Blood and Soul
by DarkestVampire
Summary: PostRomancia. Thirty years after the war, Hellsing and the entire world is nearing a possible end.. Can the new Hellsing organization prevent it? I ve posted all 10 chapters now. Review to get more, or die waiting. OCxOC AxSxI Sequel to Zero Hour.
1. Interlude: Red Hot Bloodlust

Blood and Soul

It was a quiet evening... peaceful, silent, chilly and blown through with fresh air.

The newbuild neon lights that gave off light to the streets of the city formerly known as „Midian" gave off a dark shadow as Seras passed by.

This shadow deeply represented her true self.. a shadow that would never ever fade again.

But today, she didn´t care about these things... she just wanted to have some fun in this night.

Althrough she never guessed that this wish for entertainment could seal her fate for the next months, years even.

Fate certainly told her to go to this preticular cafè at the edge of the Londoner downtown district.

After being rebuild, the city became a lot bigger, and the Big Ben, once the symbol of Londons pride, was drowned in the flood of new skyscrapers.

This cafe was one of the many of the stores and shops in England, it stayed open all day and night.

Seras, being dressed in her ususal nightwear, as she called it, which was a sleeveless red top, two long red handgloves and a black miniskirt, decided to just drop by there, to be under people again.

After the newfound trouble with Iscariot, things were getting rather bothersome and stressful, so she needed it, too.

Ordering the ususal cherry slushy ice, which reminded her of iced blood for obvious reasons, she sat down and thought about the night as it had happened so far.

An exhausting mission to start it, then Lord Integra stareing at the room where she kept the old coffin, as everyday, and finally, getting some time off... all in all a pretty regular day for her by now.

Her eyes gazed over to the guy on the opposite end of the room... He looked rather thoughtful just now.

Sratching out her ice, she kept looking over, stareing sometimes to see what he was doing.

She knew that wasnt nice, she knew it first handed the way people kept stareing at her sometimes, but somehow she found it fun, just the way he acted.

Studieing the chart, looking out the window, running through his hair.

At the last part, she caught herself actually trying to eat a pierce of the plastic cup the ice was delivered in, as she had ate it all without thinking.

"Ugh, im so silly sometimes." She muttered quietly, but since it was dead silence, he could hear it, and looked over for a second.

Seras noticed that, and looked back over. "...What?"

"You were watching me for longer just now, werent you?" He asked, with a slightly bored voice.

"Uh, yeah, I kinda did. Sorry bout that." She apologized, but he didnt seem to care.

"Its okay. I guess its just some kind of entertainment at least."

That was true, Seras thought. It was kinda entertaining.

And so, they got into talking a bit, talking about the weather, politics, the icecream of course and other regular themes. They sort of were at similar opinions on most things, too.

After Seras ordered a second slushie, being thankful that anything related to stomatch functions werent important anymore, he went up with an more important question.

"...So whats your name?"

That caught her on the spot, and she stayed silent for a moment. She had three options. Tell the truth, and engage in a flirt. Tell him a fake name, and keep talking about politics, or, just tell him to screw off, but she wasnt into that. He seemed nice, and whenever she could she tried not to be curel to people.

So that was out of question. And as she couldnt make up any good fake names, she decided to just tell him her first name, and nothing else.

"Seras. Im Seras." she said, working on her ice.

"Oh.. a kinda rare name. But nice neverless."

Again, this caught her. It was a rare name. In fact, she never met a second person with that name, so if he knew conspiracy stories well, he could even identify her.

Thankfully, he didnt seem to, and Seras avoided any further talk about her name, by asking about his.

"And yours? I could guess that it isnt an English one... you do kinda have an accent, dont you." She said, pointing at him with the spoon.

He smirked, and nodded. "Toby isnt an english name, thats true. But I was in fact born here, just my parents arent english."

Seras smiled a bit. "Ah, too bad. You mustve been teased in school for that, I bet. All these stories about germans rumoring in the past were bad."

Two hours passed, and the two stayed on good therms, while Toby started to wonder why she didnt feel strange after five slushies with cherry flavor.

Actually, she did feel strange, but it was just the sugar hypering her out. She was starting to talk about girl groups, was making jokes (Something she was bad at, to be added here, just a few dirty ones she had learned from Pip), and bounceing up and down in her seat.

Finally, when he had to leave, she decided to go as well. He didn´t seem to mind.

They paid, and left... but then, a shock got through Seras.

A cold, stunning shock, making a sharp pain in her left chest.

Her entire view became red, the night seemed like bright daylight, and all her senses focused on Toby.

Before he could ask what was going on, she had pulled him into a corner, yanked his head to the side, and bit down.

Part 1 end.


	2. One: Awakening

"What happened?" asked an old, rough voice.

"My instincts took over. The blood this evening mustve been not enough... im looseing strength in all this stress." a soft, feminine one replied.

"But thats no excuse for biteing someone." the rough voice said.

"You know I can´t control it. If im too hungry I just run off and feed from the nearest source." Seras said, carring the unconsious Toby.

"Still, you need to learn it. Or else I will have to bound you, like your father."

"Yes, Integra. I understand."

After this short conversation, Toby blacked out deeper.

As he regained senses, he was in a bed, in a room that was unknown to him.

Rough, nondescript stone walls, with an expensive wooden closet and other pretty furniture.

The bed itself was a king size one, big enough for three or five persons at once.

Was he in a hotel or something like that? He couldnt remember going to one.

All he remembered was leaveing the cafe with this girl... this girl... Seras, yeah, that was her name.

What was wrong now? He couldnt think straight.

If he left that cafe, why would he be in a hotel?

The door opened with a creak, and a figure he was familiar with stepped inside.

"Ah, youre awake... thats good." Seras said, now being in her uniform.

Toby stared at the millitary attire of her.. a badge saying "Hellsing" on her left chest, handgloves with armor inside, thick boots and lots of pockets for storeing clips and equipment.

But what really bothered him was the name that showed up just beneath her neck, on a little sign.

Seras Victoria. Where did he hear that name before? It sounded utterly familiar, disprite that he heard her first name before.

Then, the most weird thing he ever saw caught his eye.

Her left arm was completely made of a thick, black substance, unable to be seen through, but it didnt seem quite solid.

He backed up to the farthest edge of the bed in a shock, not saying anything.

"Its okay, its okay, calm down. Im not going to hurt you, or anything like that." She said, sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Wh-whats going on?!" He asked, slowly calming down as he noticed that she really wasnt going to do anything.

"Its a long, long story... but let me explain you. I, am a vampire. You probably heard the rumors before."

...A vampire? ... he was flirting with a vampire...? Now he knew why she didnt feel sick from all this ice.

"Are you feeling alright, Toby? You slept for three entire days without wakeing up. I was starting to worry you wont wake up anymore, either." She looked over to him, and now he also noticed the unususal crimson eyecolor.

It looked pretty on her, but certainly wasnt human.

"...what happened? Just what happened?" He kept asking her.

"...as we left the cafe, I felt a blood rush. This happens when I didnt drink enough. I did drink a lot before we met, but I was in stress before and basically sweat it all out again, if you know what I mean.. in a blood rush, you have no control over yourself, and you just go for the next source of blood and drain it."

...Toby was beginning to understand.

"...so you fed from me? But why am I still alive?" He asked. Because the Millenium Soldiers couldnt turn people due their chips, rumors tended to say that Vampires could only be made, and thus were made by the gouverment.

"Fortunely, before you were drained all the way, I managed to get back into my normal self, and bring you out of trouble before either the cops showed up or you bled out. We treated your wound here, and then let you rest here. I hope you are okay with that." She finished telling him.

"...But where am I?"

"In the headquarters of what is left of the Hellsing Organization." The rough voice he reconized from earlier sounded out, and a figure stepped forward.

Seras made room for the figure and bowed, looking down.

"Toby, this is my superior and master.. Lord Integra Fairbrook Wingates van Hellsing, shes going to tell you the rest.Treat her with respect."

The way Seras said that sounded like an order to him, but he nodded either way.

"So, you are... Toby, as I heard?" The figure came closer, so the face could actually be seen.

An old woman, with a medium suntan, in her early fifties.

But the only odd thing he could see about her is that she was wearing an eyepatch, over a pair of glasses.

"...uhm, yes.. Sir." He replied hesistately.

"Dont be frightened of me, young man. Im not a vampire, just an old, old human virgin who was foolish in her younger days." Integra chuckled, smileing a bit.

Seras looked up to her, and smiled as well.

"You probably have a lot of questions right now, all swirling inside your head, and none of them can be answered. Let me provide you with the basics of them... you are now a vampire. Seras, the last in line of the Dracul bloodline, is a true vampire, a full midian. You will obey her every command, and if you do not, she has the right to punish you, even with death. But dont worry, Seras is a kind person, and wont do that unless its absolutly necessary."

Seras nodded. "Thank you, Sir."

Integra patted her shoulder in return. "Dont ever mention it, Seras.You prooved it more than a couple of times that you are everything but not a monster... now, back to the topic, young man. As a vampire, we would normally have to kill you right away. Vampires don´t only hold a threat towards the international politics, but towards the innocent, too. Imagine if you just walk down the street, and everytime you turn around something could happen like it did... or worse."

Toby shuddered. This wasn´t going too well for him, he could feel it.

"However... Seras has earned a lot of debts at my side, and I never get to return more than a few of them. So, I will allow her to keep you alive and around, but in return, you will have to do the same work as she does... going out everynight, hunting the vampires."

Integra took a short break to cough a few times, and Seras patted her back.

"Ah, thank you, Victoria. Well, were were I... ah, right. The point is, do you accept doing this? Killing your own kind is harder than it sounds like, and it requires lots of extensive training. The other possibility though would be to simply be a slave, like a butler."

Seras grinned a bit. "We kind of need a butler, Sir."

Integra nodded, smirking, and sighed. "Yes we do.. but we can´t expect to have someone like Walter ever again."

Toby didn´t understand the most of this, but the thing he did understand that he would either work for them, or die.

He choosed to live, naturally.

"I will do it. If I have to kill my own kind, I will do it. Its still better than dieing."

Seras looked over to him, and smiled, wide and honestly.

"Toby, you remind me of myself just now... I took the same choice as I started working here."

Part 2 end.


	3. Two: Introduction

After another, almost restless sleep, Toby woke up on the next morning....or was it evening? He couldn`t tell. All he noticed that was the lights in the room went on at thier own.

He sighed after the little shock, and was about to go out of his bed, but then remembered he didn`t have something to dress so far.

Just being in this pyjama, he didn`t know who put him into this and he probably didn`t wanna know either, he walked over to the closet on the other end of the room and looked inside.. as expected, empty.

Sighing, he closed it shut, and sat back onto the bed, thinking about what to do, until the door opened.

He didnt have to look into the direction to tell that it was his master, Seras.

„Good evening.. Integral told me to bring you an uniform, so you can get used to duty right away. Dont worry, nothing too serious for today, but the earlier we`ll start the better."

She came over to the bed, and placed a similiar uniform onto it as she wore, but with pants and in black.

Looking over, he nodded slowly.

„...why black?" he finally asked, takeing it slowly to see if it would fit.

„They were green in my days, official color. But even the queen realized eventually that black is more stealthly for acting in midnight, rather than dark green." Seras smirked a bit, then turned and left.

„I`ll be waiting for you outside. Dont take too long."

Toby sighed a bit. Great, he was starting to feel uncomfortable with this. But too late to stop now, was it.

Putting on the uniform seemed easy. Pants, shirt with lots of buttons, and boots.

Then there was this belt... and with a holster on it. A gun holster? He thought they would kill vampires with stakes or something like that, like in the old legends.

He could ask questions later, he had to hurry up, thats what he kept telling himself.

So, after putting on the belt, he hurried outside, and Seras was nowhere in sight.

„What the... she told me she would be right outside...!" He said to himself, looking around.

Then, a girlish chuckle was heard, and Seras stepped right outside the wall he was faceing.

„Just fooling you a bit. And showing what you`re capable of, after lots of training" She smirked slightly, looking at him.

Toby didn`t have anything to reply, he was just stunned, and then sighed, feeling weak.

„Of course, you`ll have to work hard for it.. and the most important step for that is to drink blood. Which kind of blood, it doesnt matter. You can even feed from animals just to survive. But at least once per week, or else your body will try to destroy itself. Kind of like with muscles and fat for a human." She explained, and started to walk down the corridor which ended in a long stairway.

Toby followed, and nodded.

„Thats the second topic already.. as vampire, you never change your appearance.. at least not against your will. After some training, you can change it as much as you wish, up to a certain limit"

To demonstrate, she faced him right in front of the stairs, and shifted into a long black dress, with open hair instead of her ponytail.

He gasped a bit, swallowing hard, but then nodded again.

Seras shifted back, and turned to go up the stairs.

Neon lights were leading the way on either side of the stairway, since the stairs were quite hard to climb and one could easyly trip.

„As you might´ve noticed, you`ve gotten a gun holster for yourself... a gun is your best friend on the battlefield, even for our kind of combat. Silver, garlic, mercury and even gold harms vampires and is oftenly made into bullets. Stakes are effective too, but hard to use, same as crosses, but bullets are undoubtfully the best way to fight them. So, you will have to learn how to shoot, reload and aim a gun, with your human eyes, and with your vampireic ones."

That, of course was something he didn`t understand by now.

As they reached the top of the stairs, Toby took a deep breath. The air was much better here than in these stinky dungeons.

The hallways were covered in paintings, some of them quite ancient, as they kept moveing on.

„Sunlight is one of the vampires wost enemies. But as soon as you gotten a bit stronger, you will be able to withstand it. As for me, it doesnt harm me at all, but i have some... bad memories around that, so i avoid it as much as possible..." Seras didn`t feel like telling him about Alucard... yet. He would find out soon enough.

After some walking, they reached the main lobby, a large, square shaped room with another big stairway, but a shorter one.

„To kill a vampire with a bullet, you will need to hit his head or his heart. Of course it makes damage on other spots as well, you can pin him down if you shoot his legs with blessed bullets, just like with a human, but he wont die from all of that. Even if he bleeds out, he`s still alive and waiting to attack you."

Finally, they walked up the second stairway, and reached the large double door after walking through yet another hallway.

Seras knocked on the door, and Integra`s voice came out of the room, muffled.

„Enter.."

Toby and Seras entered the room, which apperantly was Integras office.

She wasnt at her desk for the moment, but rather stareing at the painting on the wall.. an good looking man in his thirties.

„Looking at Lord Arthur again, Integral?" Seras smiled, walking over to her.

„Yes, Seras... it seemed like an enternity since i last saw him."

Toby stepped over to the desk... a window was behind it, and it was the first window he ever found in this mansion.

Looking down, he saw a huge complex of various buildings with a gigantic garden, serval vehicles stored there, and a helicopter flying by almost silently.

This was no joke.. this was actually an organization that hunts vampires as they told him.

He was bought out of his thoughts as Integral returned to her desk, sitting down with a sigh, and Seras comeing up behind him.

„You may sit down, young man... this is going to be a longer discussion." Integra`s voice sounded soft hearted, but it was a serious matter so her face kept being straight.

Toby sat down nervously, slowly calming down as he looked at Integra, unsure what comes now.

She, on her side, put a few papers away and folded her hands.

"Very well. Now, we shall interduce you to the full story at hand... We, are known as the Hellsing Orginization, lead by me, Integra Fairbrook Wingates van Hellsing, great granddaughter of the one and only Abraham van Hellsing. We have hunted Vampires for almost two hundred years now. My ancestors first tamed a vampire to work for them, to kill the vampire threat for the public. His offical name was "Alucard", althrough he was rather known under his name "Vlad III Dracul", or "Dracula". Unfortunely, he disappeared into another sphere serval decades ago, in a violent conflict between the vampires and our group. "

Toby listened, looking to the floor at the end of the last sentence. A violent conflict..? She must mean these Nazis..

"Fortunely, Alucard turned someone, Seras Victoria, the lady which now stands beside you. She is the one and only sucessor of Dracula, Slayer of Melmedy`s nightmare, only survior of Angel Dust Anderson, Killer of the Millenium group, savior of the entire world. Or, in other words, the one you will trust blindly from now on. Seras was a perfect example how Vampires react when they`re raised for hunting... through her bite, you recieved Dracula`s blood, a part of it, and unimagineable power.. althrough it takes time to unlock and master the ablitlys, such as telepathy, telekenesis, immortality and even shapeshift "

Seras looked over to him as she got to Integra, crossing her arms behind her back.

"As well as serval others like regeneration and resistance to fire, acid and even radiation."

Integra nodded, then stood back up, only to pat Seras`s shoulder.

"Seras, even through he might be a good addtion to us, you still are in need of a punishment for not controling yourself properly. You will only have two days to train him properly before you two go on a mission. Therefore, his life is in your hands. I thought it would be fitting if it started out like this."

Seras stared at her like some sort of alien. "...t-two DAYS? That's not enough time at ALL! Can't we think of another punishment...? " But Interga shook her head.

"I have decided. I thought it over and this is my final discision. You can, of course, teach him more after the mission, but as for this, you have to learn a few things yourself. One more thing, Seras. To survive, he`ll need to stay in most relaxed state, but he cannot relax without a coffin...... you get my point? "

The female vampire sighed deeply in stress, and nodded. That let the old Hellsing make a smirk.

Then she turned back to Toby. "That`s all for now. Seras will train you from now on, to be a soldier of the Hellsings isnt exactly easy, but its possible with the right guide. It´s better if you start as soon as possible. You are, both, dismissed."

Part 3 end


	4. Three: IGM

„You should know the basics now, Toby. We`re gonna go through the rest later. The main idea is, aim for the head, shoot with silver or something more specialized, and make each shot count or you`re done for. Its easier than it sounds.. for a vampire. Humans are ususally short lived here so dont even try to make friends with the actual soldiers." Seras explained her flegling as they stood back in the lobby. She had just shown him the manor, giveing him a little tourist view of things as a start.

„Okay, so.. whats next?" He asked, crossing his arms while faceing her.

„Well... next you`re gonna be on your own because i´m on IGM." She replied, not looking too fond of that.

„IGM?" He asked her, cludeless of course.

„Information Gathering Mission. A long word for boredom if you ask me. Going around the town asking informants if anything has happened and how the vamps move. The only good thing about is that you can do what you want, as long as you ask these persons inbetween." Seras sighed deeply.

„Well.. basically... you could come along, although its not the best part of the job... but doesnt require any training whatsoever. If something bad happens you just let me handle it... if you want to come along, of course. I wont force you into something that boreing."

Toby thought for a moment, then shrugged. „Okay.. its not like i could do anything else besides that."

That was very true.. he neither had anything in his room yet, nor had something to train so far, so the only thing he could do was being around Seras.

She smiled lightly, and asked him to hold on for a moment. Five minutes later she reappeared in front of him, haveing a gun in her hand.

„Sir Integral is fine with it, but you`ll have to carry your new gun in case something happens... like i couldnt handle it. Oh well, orders are orders." She held it out to him, handle first of course, and with some hesitation he took it from her.

„Thats a Para Ordance P14 double action pistol... the standard sidearm in Hellsing`s duty. Your new best friend if you want to stay alive for longer. Holds fourteen rounds per clip, .45 ACP caliber, normal FMJ silver rounds. Its resembleing the ancient Colt M1911, with a few modifications such as being able to fire the gun even when the hammer isnt cocked. Its loaded, but safe."

Toby nodded to her, putting it into the holster on his side, as she handed him two clips for it.

„Better put these into your pockets, since there`s nothing worse than suddenly being out of ammo. Trust me, i lost my dearest friend because of that." Seras didn`t go deeper into that topic, and started to walk down a hallway. While stuffing the clips into his pockets, Toby stumbled after her since she didnt stop and wait.

Soon after, he felt a little baffeled as they entered a dark grey, almost black sportscar.

"...isn´t this un-millitary-ish?" he asked, rather thinking about armored trucks and tanks.

"It looks like it, doesnt it? But thats the only way we actualy get to certain places in time. Most Vampires dont stay in one place for long. This Combat purposed Armored Roadvehicle, or CAR for short, has a fullsteel armor, an V-8 hydrogen engine, and serval gagets useful for our purposes.. such as this." Seras flicked on a switch near the radio, and on the front, two gatling guns came out where it seemed to be an airduct.

"Woah... so you can actually fight with the car?" Toby asked while buckleing his four-point seatbelt.

"Yep. One burst of these beasts every car imaginable is stopped instantly... as long as it hits, of course. Aiming isnt easy while driving. But enough of that for now, lemme concentrate on driving for a moment." Seras`s left arm turned into flesh as she gripped around the steering wheel.. driving a car required to feel whats happening, and even though her blood arm was useful, she couldnt feel anything with it.

Toby was slightly amazed, but followed the order she gave him, and stayed quiet for most of the trip.

The last club on the list was near... meanwhile, Seras decided to re-start the conversation.

"So how are you adjusting to your new life? I can see that it isnt easy at times, especially in the beginning."

Toby shurgged, looking out the window.

"Its not that bad yet... it just feels so weird to be something else than a human. I can go with the millitary thing so far but the vampire isnt what I expected it to be."

Seras sighed lightly. "It wasnt easy for me, too. The hardest part has yet to come.. drinking blood isnt as easy as it sounds. It works just like any drink but it has a taste you need to get used to because medical blood is nasty. Fresh blood is better but its strictly forbidden to bite any innocents without their permit.. thats why I got punished."

Toby nodded, slowly understanding the whole thing. "You didnt tell me about why my tongue got so big."

She looked to him for a brief moment, then laughed a bit. "I never understood that myself.. perhaps just a mutation, or its to lap up blood from the ground easier. It comes in handy in certain situations though... as soon as you can shift your body you`ll most likely just shape it back to a human one."

He shuddered a bit, thinking of it as a mutation. "Great... any other weird organs I should know of?"

"A lot, quite a lot. Your whole body has changed dureing your turning.. but the most impressive thing are the fangs. Most of the time they just look like human teeth, with a bit more pointyness.. but if you`re about to drink from a person, then you can shift them into vampire teeth without needing to train it. These fangs are kind of creepy, like from a shark... but they pierce through everything you can imagine."

"Cool." He replied simply. This really was weird... but since they were at the topic.. "Whats up with your arm, anyway? First its all blood red and now it seems normal."

Seras`s smile faded until it was only a weak smirk. "I lost my real arm dureing the Millenium war... got it chopped off by a lunatic. That red one is just a protestic I normally use.. I can shift it into anything I want, such as spikes and blades for battle, or just a few more hands when I want to close the door and the window at the same time or so."

"Yeah, but what about it now?" Toby continued to ask.

"Well, I can regenerate it... but even though it looks weird, the blood arm is more of a useful tool than this one. I just need to feel what i`m doing at the moment so I use a real arm."

The rest of the conversation got terminated as Seras arrived at the destination.

"Okay, this will only take a second.. you stay in the car, okay?" Seras told him as she got out.

"Sure, sure."

The female nosferatu walked into the club, leaveing Toby behind...something what might be a fatal mistake.

Serval minutes had passed, and Toby was starting to get bored.

"...how long can ´a second` be?" he asked himself, as suddenly some guy knocked at the car`s window.

He blinked, but then pushed the button to roll it down, not thinking of the consquences.

Toby immidiantly received a punch to the face, and the guy tried to break into the car... as a result, the alert went off.

Stunnded from the blow, Toby was hanging halfway on the driver`s seat, but then got back up and punched him back in instinct.

The guy stumbled backwards, unnatually for such a hard punch, and was about to deliver another as a loud bang went off, letting his head detonate before his body turned to ash.

"You alright?" Seras asked as she just came out of the club, holding a gigantic silver handgun, slowly lowering it as she saw his bloody lip.

"Its fine... it doesnt hurt." He shuddered, feeling how he bleeded without feeling pain.

"You gotta be careful around here.. clubs like these just swarm with vampires but you cant just go inside and shoot them all, you know." Seras sighed, putting the huge gun into a holster on the side of her skirt. "Anyway, I`ve got something big now. Really big."

That sentence didn`t make sense to Toby until she got back into the car, flicking on the radio.

"Headquarters? This is CAR 002. I`ve got some big lead on the bats. Requesting permission to hunt them down."

Shortly after, Integra`s voice came out of what looked like an ordinary car radio.

"Permission granted, CAR 002. Make it quick, Victoria."

"Rodger." Seras replied, then turned it off again, before turning to Toby. "Hey, how about some action? I mean, real action, not like that just now. Shooting and dodgeing."

Toby blinked at her, repeatly, then shurgged and nodded. "I suppose its better to start things as soon as possible."

She gave him a devious grin. "I`m sure you`ll like it. Just dont tell Integra afterwards."

With that, they drove to the location Seras got from her informat.


	5. Four: IGM 2

The CAR stopped in front of a typical run down warehouse, ususally inhabited by hobos, stray dogs and other people who tended to act at the rim of legality.

Seras took out the large handgun she had entitled as the „Casull" meanwhile, takeing out the clip to load it up.

„A word of advice?" she asked sarcastically, putting silver bullets into the clip with her left blood hand. Silver was still too dangerous for her, and the Casull bullets had power. The blood arm however was just a fluid body, and wasnt harmed by it. It was like wearing a thick lead glove.

„...uh, might be helpful i guess." Toby replied, slowly drawing his gun as well, looking at it once, then at the gigantic gun next to him.

„Shoot at thier heads only. The heart makes more of an instant kill than the head, but its hard to hit for a beginner. Only exchange fire with one or two of them at once, and dont let them corner you. This isnt a drill, this is the real deal." She looked over to him, being serious. „Got that? I`ll be right behind you if something goes wrong, but dont keep that in mind. Act like i wont be there."

„Alright.." Toby said, sighing deeply. A flash of light illuminated the slide of Seras`s gun in the deep, thick night.

Hellsing ARMS .454 Casull auto longslide. The word Hellsing rang in the back of his head as he got out of the car, slowly going to the entrace.

I`m a Hellsing now, he thought, i must act like one. Be superior, fast and deadly.

The door was kicked down fastly, he was suprised how easy that was. He saw that in movies, in the TV and people who did it, but never did it himself. It was too senseless for him normally.. but now it seemed light as a feather.

Running inside, he kept the gun low, over his knee, like he saw it from police shows. His finger off the trigger, the second hand gripping the magazine houseing, and the eyes kept at a high level.

Soon, he stopped, listening to some rustles nearby.. a groan, but it didnt seem quite normal.

Like an animal growling.

„Move." Seras whispered, pointing towards the noise.

„Wha... but...!" He started, getting a shake of her head.

„You move or i do. Its your target that rustles there. Go and shoot it dead."

Sighing, he stopped discussing, and jumped forth, landing with a bump.

Immidiantly, the two ghouls spun around, faceing him, bareing inhuman teeth to him while flashing violet eyes.

Toby didn`t hesitate, and pulled the trigger three times per ghoul.

„Not bad so far. Keep going. Move on and shoot everything in sight." Seras told him, then vanished again like she did before.

„Alright... seems easy enough." Toby told himself, then ran towards the door on the right, kicking it in quickly.

Behind it, a ghoul reached out for him, but a quick shot to the head solved that problem.

Four others came up, and he striked them down with seven shots.

He was stunned for a second, suprised how fast and instictive he moved, like he did it for many years already.

„Good.. you`re catching on quickly. One more, then i will show you some. There`s a vampire in the next room, heading for you. Reload and kill him." Seras`s voice came from the cieling, she was nowhere to be seen. „Hurry up. Just try it."

Toby didn`t waste any time, the magazine slided out and he reloaded, pushing the slide release.

Then, the door bursted open and a young man with a machine pistol came forth.

Asking no questions, the man opened fire directly, shooting deadly bursts at Toby in angles.

He, on the other hand, thought about avoiding them... and did it in an instant. His body spun to the side and jumped across the room, landing in a roll, then he ran towards him, through the bullets, and clicked the gun to his head.

The man tried to say something, but instead the gun went off, two times.

As the shell cases hit the ground, his body turned to ash and the gun he carried landed on the ground with a metallic crash.

Then, Toby spun around as he heard clapping.

Seras stood near the door he came through, clapping her hands together with a smile.

„Excellent. You`re very good for a beginner... most vampires need to think before they do things like dodgeing bullets, they have too much fear and overreact. To tell you the truth, i`m amazed. But good enough for now.. put the gun away, and come with me.. i`ll show you something more interesting."

Toby had no time to protest, Seras turned around immidiantly after that sentence and walked on.

With yet another sigh, the P14 slid into its holster and he followed his master into something like a workshop.

A stolen car in the middle, serveral tools scattered around, it seemed like a chopshop.

But the man who worked on the car moved in a blurr, switching tools and placeing mechanical parts beside him in the same fraction of a second. Obviously someone who wasnt quite human.

Seras and Toby stood on a small ledge that lead to a ladder, above the actual scene.

„That`s our main target. We dont know who or what he is, but he`s something we didnt see so far. Probably a new subrace of vampires.... let me handle this, stay up here." Seras whipsered, then jumped down and landed perfectly silent.

The Casull was drawn, and it glittered in the light of the neon pipes above... a gunshot went off, sending a round through the car itself into the man below it.

A scream of pain followed, and he jumped onto his feet. His chest was pierced, and he bled a bit, but nothing too serious it seemed.

„Hellsing Organization. You`re a threat to humanity and must be exterminated." Seras said, then pointed the gun at his head.

„What the hell...?!" He asked in a rough, low voice, with a slight yankee accent.

„No questions." A second round went into his head, and he jerked backwards, to walk on the wall.

Gritting her teeth, Seras fired the rest of the bullets at him, and one striked his leg, but nothing happened.

„Damn." She only said, holstering the gun before running after him.

The man stopped, faceing her again, his face shifting to a wicked one.

„Hellsing...!" He growled, rushing towards her.. but in a split second, Seras`s arm had formed a spear and impaled his body.

„No, Victoria. Hellsing`s the boss." She joked, raiseing his chin. „What are you."

„Bite me.." He groaned, struggleing.

The vampire sighed, and shook her blonde head. „I prefered not to. But any way you want it."

Before he could protest, Seras`s fangs extended to shark-teeth and she ripped a part of his neck off, sucking on the large open wound.

The man gurgled and coughed for a minute, then the protest died down, and his body went limb.

Seras looked at him for a second, then gestured Toby to come down as well. He used the ladder to do so, unlike her.

"So whats wrong?" He asked, looking at her.

"You can sure ask ridiculous questions. Just look at that guy. Any vampire of any kind of any bloodline turns to dust upon death. He doesnt. Just look at that mess I made of him and yet he`s still in one piece. Fucking asshole." Without letting him reply, Seras took out a small radio device from one of her pockets.

"Headquarters? Get me Integra on the line. Situation A. .... Dumbfuck. Its me, Victoria. Now get me Integra already."

Toby wasn`t paying much attention to his Master right now. She was right, of course, Vampires should turn to dust at the point of their deaths. Also, the silver bullets inside his body didn`t burn, nor got pushed out. It was like any regular bullet to him.

"...but even Werewolves should be weak against silver.." He muttered, speculateing.

"...Integra? Finally. You should stop paying the guy at the reception for a while. Listen, we got a  
Sitaution A here. Yes, Sitaution A. I took care of that guy, but I pumped him full of silver and he didn`t have a scratch. Doesn`t turn to dust also. ..... Aye. I`ll let the EVAC Team do the rest.. we can discuss that later. By the way, dont bother to look for Toby, I took him along. He`s a pretty natural fighter." Seras smirked a bit, then hung up before Integra cound burst out in rage.

"Come on, little one. Our job is done, and we can go home. Our specialists will take care of that."

Toby nodded, and followed her back into the car, back to Hellsing...

"...turns out to be he wasn`t much of a vampire at all." Seras suggested as the two were inside Integra`s office.

"But if he`s not, how do you explain the fangs and the low body temprature." The last Hellsing asked, sucking on a cigar.

"Then he could be a mutant or something like it. Nature doesnt stop to change creatures and vampires are among these."

Integra`s fist hit the desk after Seras finished the sentence. The old lady still had fire inside her.

"Then for heaven`s sake, Seras, we have to stop them as soon as we can! If they breed, then its over with. Then humanity can see judgement day. A vampire that is not afraid of silver... behind my worst nightmares.. Just think of it, a billon Alucard copies."

Seras nodded, looking serious. "I will take any steps necessary to stop this thread. Awaiting your orders, as well."

The wrinkles in Integra`s face formed dark canyons as she leaned back to let her face get covered in shadows. She had feared this day. She had to make a decision that could either resuce or destroy humanity, but either way, she had to make it.

"...Seras, train your flegling. I will need to think about the next step... and inform Stephenson."

The vampiress nodded again, and saluted, then shoved Toby out of the office.

"Stephenson? Who`s that?" He asked as they were out.

"The lead of the biogenetic science group. You dont need to know him, he just has an interesting project down there. The way things look, we might need it."

"...What is IT?" Toby kept asking.

"... do you really want to know? You`ll see it soon, anyways. Just leave it to a little suprise." Seras meant, then walked on to the shooting range.

"..... oh well. You`re probably right, I might as well wait."

They entered the shooting range, a large underground complex made of solid concrete.. hearing protection was absoutly necessary due the large, hollow area and the loud echo, but vampires weren`t too soft about that.

Toby waited a minute while Seras digged out a rifle for him, and placed it gently into his hands.

"Feel that. Thats the M8 A2 assault rifle, used by most armies in the western part of the world. A 5,56mm automatic weapon with optic zoom, modularity and caseless ammuition. You can use cased shells as well, but the standard Hellsing rounds are caseless. Now unlock it with the select switch and step up."

He did as she wanted, and stepped up to the range, the rifle in both hands.

"Next to you is an ammo dispenser. We use plastic rounds for training in this one, so splinters and sharpnels wont hurt you.... much. Try to keep in mind that they might kill you in a real battle. Now, get ready, i`m gonna unleash the target sequence."

And so she did. Human shaped metal plates popped up in front of him, each one in a different angle and distance.

He wasted no time, sending them all down with short, controlled bursts until the first sequence ended.

"Good so far. Now reload, with the bolt on the top, and try to aim by insinct this time."

Fifteen seconds later, a new target appeared, and was striked down by the bullet´s kinetic energy.

Toby could feel his shoulder twitching from the kicks that went into it, but paid it no mind, and kept# fireing.

One, two, three, four, five... rows of them went down, but Seras wasnt satisfied this time.

"Too slow. You could be a lot faster if you`d use your instinct. Try again... free your soul from your mortal boundries, free yourself, let the beast take over for a minute. I`m unleashing a third wave... dont let me down."

Toby sighed deeply, and closed his eyes, feeling more concentratred this way.

He heard the target creaking as it went up, and fired, with his eyes closed. A metallic noise told him that it was hit.

He actually hit it.. with his eyes closed! He kept them like that, breathing deep and steadyly, fireing single rounds into his metal enemies.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

In the end, he sighed, put the rifle down, and heard a clapping noise.

"Good, good, kiddo. Thats the right way. Let the energies flow and concentrate. Its good for fighting over distance.... just concentrate a little more and you`ll find the most important step as being a vampire. Also, dont close your eyes."

Then, she turned around.

"I`ll have to check out some things, but you can practice some more. Just take the rifle with you if you want, its standard-issue."

After this short, one sided conversation, Seras walked to the research area, to Stephenson....

Part 5 end


	6. Five: Engine of Darkness

„Stephenson...?" It halled from the ceiling.

The short man with weak appearance shuddered. Quickly, he spun around to see if she was there already, then he brushed through his reddened hair.

It was more like a dark brown, but in the halfway lightened room, it seemed more red than anything else.

Still adjusting his glasses, he looked up.

„Y..yes, Captain Victoria?" He asked out, and recieved a prompt answer as she phased out of it in front of him.

„Just wanted to know if you pay attention... i can`t knock the cieling, you know." Seras smirked, then went serious again. „How is she?"

Alistar Stephenson shuddered again. That topic. He hated it, but it was his work... and admirable as well.

„She...? She.. is perfect.. perfect, yet in a horrible state." He replied after a short silence.

A dark groan came out of Seras`s lungs. „I heard that before. Ended in a disaster as much as i know. Can you activate her."

„... thats too dangerous, she might..." Stephensons words were cut off by his superior quickly.

„Can. You. Activate. Her." She said again, slowly and in a dangerously clear tone.

He shuddered, and nodded slowly. „With some delays, but yes.."

„What kind of delays."

„The cryo process she`d been through is very stressing to the muscles and bones.. she might need a bit of relaxation before actual duty... perhaps rehabilation even.. in case she still works properly, stetting someone cold is illegal and for a reason."

Seras groaned again, and looked into his eyes. „Its the entire human race we`re talking about here. Alucard isnt present, and even if he comes back, who knows if he could stand against these beasts. I know you`re in a doubt about her, i am, too. More than you even. She was Millenium and who knows how she thinks like. But in this sceneario, she`s a trump card, and we need her active. Activate her."

The last line of her sentence was a command, and immidiantly Stephenson complied by running towards the cryo room.

The entire operation room was set to minus two hundered degrees celsius, enough to conservate human bodies while they`re alive.

Inside was a single body, obviously with female features, but mostly covered by a sheet.

Dark hair was covering the back of her head.

„You changed her haircolor?" Seras asked while crossing her arms.

„...y-yes, just for your comfortness.. it might be strange to look into a mirror like this too much."

Alistar Stephenson typed in the twenty-numbered code that allowed to acess the room`s freezeing controls. He learned it so much that he didn`t even had to look at the keypad.

Instead, he stared at the body inside the room with magnificence, like the messiah was buried there.

Finally, a big red button came up under a security panel, and he pushed it with his fist.

Following that, a sharp hiss indicated that the life leeching liqud oxygen inside the room was being sucked out, and the frost roses on the glass of the door slowly disappeared, makeing the room look warmer.

„..... 25 degrees celsuis. We can go in." he finally said, and removed the lock of the door with the push of another button.

„Cant wait to see my mirror image again." Seras muttered, then stepped inside.

„How long will it take to activate her?" She asked again, as she stared down to the girl.

She was looking at her own face there. Her clone.

„Ten minutes at best. Just need to charge her battery and start her heartbeat. The rest is being revived on its own." Stephenson said, tapping in various codes on a console nearby.

„Did her implants survive the cryptic shock?"

„Barely. But the nanobots did, and they`re working on it. Her blood is flowing again, and the bots get everywhere they need to. I wish i had such perfection."

Seras shot a glare at him. „It comes with a price, i bet."

Then, she looked down on the girl again. All her features were exactly the same, except for the haircolor. The bangs that hung into her face were colored red, makeing her look rebellious.

The vampire jumped backwards as she suddenly opened her eyes.

„Dont worry Captain, thats just the startup routine. Its to make her eyes get used to light." Alistar said, then stepped over. „All done. Now just wait a moment and you might get an audience with her."

Seras grasped her chest after that shock, and stepped back over. „Well, lets hope the princess is friendly."

A computer screen nearby the table she laid on indicated what her status was.

"Reinforced titanium bones, OK. Nanorobotic fabrication implant, OK, Regeneration control unit, OK, Adrinaline pump 1 and 2, OK, Osotrogene pump, OK, Testosterone pump, OK, Cybotronic sighting units Alpha and Beta OK, Genetic engineering database for shapeshifting, OK, Personal control unit has been removed, Status report unit has been removed, Tracking device has been removed, Text to speech implant has been removed, Neurotoxic punishment device removed, Napalm concentrate canister and detonator removed. System power at 100 precent efficiancy, control systems offline due stated above. Ready for startup in three, two, one." As Stephenson ended his long explaination sentence, the girl twitched hardly for a short time, then started to blink, her mouth lightly open, she breathed, then closed her eyes tightly as her limbs got forced into painful life.

"How are you feeling...?" Seras asked after a short time, stepping over to the table.

The girl shuddered once, but obviously not because of the sentence. Then, she replied without looking.

".. Senior Officer Seras Victoria of Hellsing... right...? Am I a prisoner of war now..?"

To her suprise, the girl spoke with a different voice than Seras did. She could change it, and it seemed she rather liked to be original.

"No. You are free to go anywhere you like."

"Don´t joke around..." She groaned, slowly raiseing her head, then opening her eyes.

Then, Seras saw for the first time how her iris moved on its own, little black circles surrounding the pupils zoomed in and out, like she analyzed her.

"I`m serious. You were created by Millenium but you never did anything, so we can`t hold you a prisoner. However you should consider yourself a guest here. ... now, before I explain you what happened in the last thirty years, who do I have the honor with..?"

The girl sat up while Stephenson had left the room. He had to leave Seras alone, even though this was a moment of triumph. Seras wanted to be alone with her mirror image.

"..Ceras Viktoria... Doc used to call me Subject 293784-53 State A. " Ceras grasped her head, like she felt pain as she sat up. Her blood cirulation still had to start working more regulary, and thus she lied back down.

"That sounds kind of german." Seras smirked. So they were indivdual in some ways.

"Schrodinger told Doc your name, as much as I know... since he had a thick accent I suppose Doc didnt know how to write your name, and thats all. ....can you tell me now what happened? These maschines in the room.. they all look unfamilliar to me."

The vampire smiled a bit, slightly evil.

"Thirty years have passed since Millenium was destroyed. We found your body in the base in Rio. It seems like Doc wanted to use you as a special strike against England by letting you infiltrate Hellsing as me, but then Zorin chopped my arm off and took away any chance of letting you go in unnoticed." Seras explained.

"... Millenium defeated...? "

"Yeah. Their war lasted one night only. In one night they wiped out ninety precent of the population in London, and reduced Hellsing to two members, me and Sir Integra."

Ceras shuddered again, and stared at the ceiling.

"So Major reached his goal afterall...?" She asked slowly.

"Sort of.. I suspect Alucard isn`t gone forever. But back to topic. Three weeks after that, we destroyed the Rio base, and their splinter group Phoenix in the process. Offically just a bunch of Nazis attacked us, no word about vampires whatsoever. No one of Millenium survived. So, its open to the observer whatever they suceeded or not." Seras crossed her arms, wanting to change topics but she had to explain it first.

"The only goal of the Last Battallion is to die honorfully in battle. So they did suceed. Oh well... but if they`re defeated... what else would you need me for? Whats the reason of my existance..?" Ceras sat up, finally being able to circulate.

The towel came off her body, and revealed her flawless chest. Seras fixed her eyes on it for a moment.. no scars whatsoever were carved into Ceras`s flesh. Thats what she could´ve looked like.

Then, she focused back onto the question.

"It appears to be that vampires have mutated, or at least a new race came up, immune to silver and regular weapons. I cant fight them alone, and we dont have Alucard... so naturally, you`re the next in line of our trump cards." Seras made a gesture like she was shuffleing, then putting down playing cards.

"You do realize my service life is about ten months short, do you. That will better be a quick fight."

Ten months..? Seras stopped for a moment. Just ten months to live.. but then again, ten months were a sort of long time in biologic nature.

Just too bad that biologic nature had nothing to do with Ceras, absolutly nothing.

"... " She didn`t find words for it. ".... maybe we`ll find ways to help out there."

Ceras looked coldy at her, cold and serious, like it didn´t matter to her. Then, she stood up, and raised to her full size, to the micrometer exactly to Seras.

The vampire raised an eyebrow, then blinked as Ceras held out her hand to her.

"Pleased to work with you, Officer Victoria."

Seras blinked again, then smirked, and shook her hand firmly.

"The pleasure is mine.. but its Captain Victoria by now."

"So what happens now...?" Ceras asked as Seras came back from leaveing the room for a short moment.

"First off you`re gonna have to face Sir Integra for registry, then i´ll show you around and introduce you to the most important persons. But all before that.." Seras dropped a fresh uniform onto the table, "Put some clothes on, please. You´re embaressing me."

Ceras blinked for a moment, then smirked evily. "Embarressed just because of subordiments, Captain?"

Seras, on the other hand, didn´t expect such a comeback from a clone, and blushed lightly. "None of your buisness. Just dress up and follow me."

"Fine, whatever you want."

The two left the dungeon room, slowly going up the steps.

"Besides, you´re inside my body, so be tough. Boys will come after you like flies and girls will call you a slut. Try to counterattack in the same way." Seras suggested, waiting for her at the top of the stairway.

"I`d thought you`d say that. My memory says that Schrodinger went crazy as he saw my proto-body." Ceras replied, looking around curiously.

The Nosferatu didn`t like these looks. As for now she didn´t trust her much. It seemed too easy.

"This way." She said, then went on faster, going through a long, boredly furnitured hallway.

Pictures of famous men rushed by. Hellsing´s family members, war heros, important politicians or just idols of the family.

Ceras didn´t pay attention to them. At least not now.

Near the end however she looked at a simple picture, more like a photograph.

".... Integra Hellsing...?" She asked, stopping there.

Seras blinked for a moment, then stopped as well. Looking at the picture, she nodded.

"Yeah, thats her. Back at that time before the war. She looks only a bit like that today. Much older and with an eyepatch. She lost her left eye to the Major."

Ceras widened her eyes, looking at her. "You mean he fought her? Major´s targeting systems were a joke against mine."

"Thats why the next shot killed him." Nothing else was there to say, Seras walked on, and her cyborg clone followed up after a minute.

Shortly after that, both arrived at the topside, the main lobby, and Seras raised an eyebrow almost immidiantly at the young man holding a rifle there.

"Oh, there you are. Big problem with this gun." Toby said, holding it out to her.

"I hope that thing is on safe. Whats wrong?" His master asked, takeing it from him.

"I dunno, just after the sixth magazine the accuracy went insanely low. The bullets just scattered all around like crazy. Maybe the barrel is broken or something like that..."

With a quick, sharp click the lock went out of place, and Seras took the barrel out of the gun. "Cant be. M8 barrels have insureance for at least twenty thousand shots.... oh."

"Famous last words... what does "oh" stand for in this case?" Ceras asked, comeing up from behind her.

Toby blinked repeatly, pointing at her. "....your twin sister?"

Seras rolled her eyes, and shook her head. "I`ll explain you later." Then, she crushed the barrel with her fist. "Damn. Thirty two years of troop training and I make a mistake like that. I actually gave you one of the old guns, one used by the soldiers. No wonder its worn out."

"One of your ususal mistakes, I assume."

This proud, old voice rang through the hall, and Toby immdiantly saluted. Seras hung her head and threw the barrel remains away.

"Sorry Integra. Its just the downside of getting old I suppose. You should know that the same as me."

"Unlike you, I never had problems with my memory so far, and I drank alcohol for a long time." Integra came down the stairs, from her office, dressed in her coat and carring her saber by the side.

"...Sir Hellsing, I assume?" Ceras finally said, catching her attention.

"Dont forget the Sir. I bid you welcome at the Hellsing organization, Miss...?" Integra asked, holding out a hand to her.

The clone gasped for a moment, feeling honored to shake her hand, and then didn`t hesitate to do so.

"Viktoria. Ceras Viktoria. Remember the pronounceing. Its an honor, Sir Hellsing. I`ve been amazed by what Seras told me about your work." She beamed up with cheerfulness and sheer glee.

"I did what I had to do. Nothing more, nothing less. Now, onto the topic at hand. Seras, its time for the lessons at the Palace. Penwood needs to be beaten yet another time. I`d like you to accompany me, but are you sure they can take care of matters here...?"

Seras nodded deeply, partly bowing. "I`m sure of it, Sir. If it comes to the worst case, Rein is still there to help."

"I dont trust Raminta and you know it, Seras. But good to see you have faith in your flegling. Miss Viktoria, Ensign Reed, take care of the house while we`re gone. And dont use up all the blood packets."

Part 6 end.


	7. Six: Black Out Saigon

„Seems like i have to turn it around or something like that." Toby speculated as he shoved the fresh barrel into his rifle.

„Put it in, twist it twenty-five degrees to the left, and then pull it firmly until it clicks." Ceras said, holding a manual while sitting on a bench nearby. She was obviously bored, but used the time to go and try getting along with him.

„...sounds complicated. But i´ll try." It didn`t take even a minute until it finally clicked, and the barrel was locked into place. „Damn, that WAS complicated. But it worked."

„Sure did. It should work since the manual doesnt lie." The female cyborg threw the little booklet over her shoulder and stood up. „So what are we gonna do? Just sit here and wait for them to come back?!"

„I suppose so. The less we do the less we can mess up. And Sir Integral is gonna be mad if we mess up." Toby rested the rifle on his shoulder, stepping over to her. „But some entertainment might come in handy."

„Entertainment? What kind?" Ceras raised an eyebrow, remembering what Seras told her.

„Chatter, of course. What else... for example, whats your story?"

The cyborg sighed deeply, hanging her head a bit. „Story... well, once upon a time, an insane SS Scientist wanted to create a superweapon. To arcive that, he took the liveing embryo of a girl breed somewhere in England, with the desire to observe that girl and eventually replace her with the clone, like a spy. For that purpose, he equipped that clone with superhuman equipment, metal bones, regeneration, cybertronic implants... and guess who that clone was."

Toby blinked serveral times. „... seriously?"

Ceras nodded. „Yeah. Long story made short, that is. Then, they didn´t get to use me in thier war, and Hellsing found me, putting me into Cryo-sleep until now. This is basically my first day of life."

„Oh.... that explains some things. I was wondering why you look so much like her."

Ceras didn´t get to reply this time. An explosion went off, and all went black.

„...what just happened?"

„Switching to nightvision view mode."

„..what?"

„Nevermind. The lights went out, thats what happened... i heard a boom before..."

Toby looked around, then slowly, he was able to see... in the darkness.

„Some other girls might feel romance now... i feel something different." Ceras looked around, mostly at the cieling, hearing something quite faintly. „That rifle of yours.... is it loaded?"

A metallic click sounded as he unlocked it. „Yeah. Almost a full clip, but its plastic training ammo.. why?"

„Because i think you`re going to need it. I hear gunfire upstairs."

„Gunfire?"

„Yes... fire of various guns.. and a scream." She grabbed his arm and went to the stairs in the foyer. „Come on, move it! Thats what we waited for, action!"

Toby let out a sigh and hung his head for a moment. „I dunno girl, you´re just a little bit too tough for me. Oh fuck it." He continued to follow her, fixing his eyes onto her back not to get lost.

For a human clone, she moved quite fast, running around like a marathon atlhet of some sort.

„Its on the second floor.. something´s killing people up there." She muttered, then snatched away a gun from a nearby weapon locker.

A firm pull on the front grip, and Toby knew instantly what kind of weapon that was.. a shotgun, better known as SPAS-14, a modified version of the old SPAS-12.

„Can you handle these?" He asked quickly, trying to keep up as best as possible.

„I`m made to kill. I can handle every kind of firearm." Was her short reply, and she muttered something afterwards. „Targeting system online. Tracking noise at 13."

„13 degrees? I hear that too." He said, looking over to the wall next to them.

„They have to be in the next room, or ally, or whatever that is." She came to a closed door after a turn to the right, then kicked against it.

Two mutants were munching on a soldier there. Ceras didn`t hesistate to fire shells into her heads, two of them for each, shutting them down permenantly.

„I dunno what the problem with these are. All you get i a big, humaniod cockroach...AH!" Ceras´s sentence was cut short by a third mutant comeing from above.

A gratling hung down from the cieling, obviously leading into a ventilation shaft.

„Damn!" Toby opened fire at the mutant that took down Ceras, but tried to be careful not to hit her.

„Dont hold back! I`m made of kevlar and steel, fire at will" She shouted, wrestleing with the mutant meanwhile.

„Can you withstand bullets?!" He yelled back over the notorious blasts of the gun, that slowly riddled the mutant with bullet holes.

„Sure! Thats my job!" Finally, she grabbed a table from behind her, ripping off its leg to thrust it into the mutant`s head. She got soaked in blood almost instantly and had a few rips on the skin, but quickly got back onto her feet.

„I hope i never make you angry." Toby simply said, letting the empty magazine plop out of the gun, then putting it onto his back with the strap attached to it.

„Dont worry, i don`t hurt friends.. often." With that, Ceras picked her own gun back up, and looked to the cieling. „Thats where they must´ve come from. But i bet they weren´t alone."

„But that would mean there`s fighting in other rooms, too." He said, takeing his pistol out instead.

„One more reason to get going again. Can we split up without ending up dead?"

„Not sure. Probably."

„Lets test it out."

Toby suddenly didn´t feel good anymore.

It might be due the lack of firepower comeing from his rifle and Ceras´s shotgun, but also from the lack of her presence. Going with company always made you feel more safe than alone.

All he had left was that pistol Seras gave him, with one clip in the gun and one spare clip in his pocket. Not the best chances, but not the worst. Ceras for example had to fight with five shells, nothing more.

Even through his nightsight, things were blurry and smudged, nothing really clear to see.

He had to see twice before he noticed the gratleing opening above him... and then it was too late.

A kick to the neck was the payback for that sloppyness, resulting in the mutant falling onto him.

Toby clentched his teeth, then grabbed the pistol he just dropped and shot at the mutants head, five times over before the guy kicked him to the jaw.

Toby was knocked straight over, falling down a short stairway before regaining his breath. All he could do was roll to the side as the mutant tried to crush him with a forceful jump.

He rolled backwards for himself, searching for anything that might qualify as a weapon, finding nothing close to it.

Another kick to the head followed, and he spit out blood in a brief moment before a fourth and last kick knocked him out.

His sight faded away, leaveing a colorful blurr before his eyes and all he could hear was a whisper, going into a long, shrill noise....

Ceras, meanwhile, was searching upstairs for the next mutant to kill.

The shotgun was left behind, empty and useless for her. It was stuck inside a body.

Covered in blood all over, she had trouble focusing with the disgusting scent of mutant blood, it made her nose cringe in protest.

There, thermic activity nearby... silently, she dropped down to the floor and robbed across it, until she came to the mutant`s back.

He didn´t notice her, being almost stealthly on her stomatch. His mistake, because a firm pull ripped his legs off his body, then, while falling, she got on her knees and twisted his neck till the head came off.

Finally, she stood fully again, crushing the ribcage with a stomp.

"Cockroaches need to be dead more than once." She muttered, giving off a glace to the left.

Another fortunely placed weapon locker. "This must be my lucky day. Or a day of misfortune for some others."

A minute later, Ceras eyed the weapon in her hands with suspicion.

"They still use these raggy M16`s? .... hope it doesnt choose to destroy itself when I use it."

Instantly she fell silent, as she noticed another mutant, downstairs.

She was on a little balcony, looking down to the ground floor and smirked. If that wasnt the perfect position for a kill, then she didn`t know what was.

She flew down the two stories into the lobby, landing on his head directly.

Her two-hundred kilogramms of body weight made a crack in the stone floor, and a very nasty sight as the guy under her imploded in pressure.

"Amateur." She groaned before moveing on.

It didn`t take long for her to find another, and she easyly sneaked up on him.

A hard beat to the legs with the barrel, another with the butt of the weapon into the back, then she used the whole rifle to break his neck. While doing that, she pushed her foot against his back, ripping a hole into it while getting the head off.

"...another one bites the dust... who´s next..?!" She shouted out the last bit of the sentence, readying her rifle. She had the time for some fun now.

As expected, a mutant came to kill her, but Ceras was stunned in the next moment.

From the balcony above, a black figure jumped down, pulling out two swords from behind the head, sliceing through the body of the mutant in the process before landing elegantly.

Ceras`s senses alarmed her. A vampire. Instantly, she raised her rifle up to her.

"Lower your weapon, Subject 293784-53 A. I`m non-hostile." The figure commanded with a female voice.

The cyborg was stunned and lowered the weapon in an instant, gasping as she didn´t have control over her body for that very moment.

Something held her back from aiming at her again.

"Suprised, Ceras Viktoria? Your control chip might be gone but hidden deep in your central brain area, Doc hid a second one, just for the case you would betray Millenium. It allows Millenium officials to order you around as they please." Slowly, the figure came into the light. Ceras gasped again, reconizeing her.

"Raminta Va-..!" She started, getting stopped by her.

"Dont you dare to call me by that name. My times as a Nazi official are counted. I`ve become a Hellsing decades ago... and today, they just call me Rein."

Ceras stopped, and shot a slight glare at her. "Why are you here..? Seras told me they destroyed Phoenix."

"They did. All of it is gone. In the end, I lost.. and I still have an old debt to pay off here. One i`ll never finish to pay off until either me or Seras dies." Rein said, putting her straighened Katana swords back into their sleaths.

"Then why did you use that trick to stop me?!"

"Is that so hard to see?" Rein stepped over to the cyborg, raiseing her chin with a finger. "We both know you would`ve killed me on the spot, dont we. And raiseing my hands isn`t my style."

"So how many were they?" Rein asked, crossing her arms while kicking a corpse.

"I dont know. I killed about 15 of them... not counting the two we did." Was Ceras`s response.

"34 on my side.....wait a second. Did you say, WE?"

"Eh, yes..." Ceras scratched her head. "Seras´s flegling accompanied me at the sta-...."

"Where is he?!" The vampire grasped Ceras`s collar tightly. "What were you thinking leaveing a newborn on his own!?!"

"He`s... he`s on the..." The cyborg girl coughed, then was let down to the ground again.

"Find him. Save him. God save you if you dont make it." Then, Rein turned her back to Ceras, shifting her clothes into a long, wide leather coat that hid the sleaves of her Katanas.

Ceras nodded, running off to the stairway. She was right, it was a bad idea.

But she didn`t know how bad it was.. yet.

Because meanwhile, Toby was tied to a thick pipe in a room at the basement.

Blood was running down his face, and he was still out cold, so he didn´t notice the cuts they carved into his face.

The mutants drank from him, licking it off, catching it in bags, buckets, teacups to drink it up with passion.

And whenever his regeneration kicked in and he stopped to bleed, they wacked him with a loose metal pipe to splurt out some more.

It was just mere seconds, but the door was roughly opened by an explosion.

Smoke and splinters entered the small room in an instant, making all of them cough...

That caused Toby to wake, slowly.

Another figure stood there, holding a crossbow type of weapon.

"You messed with the wrong organization, BOYS..!!" Yelled a dangerous, female voice before a bolt ripped into the head of the left mutant.

He wasn`t dead yet, of course, just pinned to the wall behind him by the powerful projectile.

"What the hell?! Who are you, bitch?!!" Shouted the second mutant, only to be silenced the same way.

In the end, a long silence followed, and Toby could only catch a short glace of red eyes flashing up before the figure left again.

....it wasn`t anyone he knew. The voice, the body and the outfit were completely unknown to him.

And instead, he was left alone in a room, tied up with two curseing mutants.

He couldn`t count the time, he didn`t know how long. It were just mere minutes before Ceras arrived, but it was a torture just to hear them screaming and yelling, wanting to get away but they couldn`t.

The bolts pinned into their skulls so hard, if they`d get away, they would break apart.

"...god, are you alright? Can you hear me?" Ceras said while ripping off the steel wire that tied up Toby.

"...yeah... yeah, I think I can still walk. Just feeling... weak..." He stumbled across the room to go to the lightswitch, flicking it on... then he remembered that the power was gone.

His nightsight had vanished without a trace, he was too weak to use it. Not enough blood left.

"Dont bother. I`ll finish them." Ceras said, picking up the pipe they`d beat him with, then shoveing it into the lower body of the first one, up to the head, then pried it loose again by ripping it across the body in a bloody mess.

The second mutant got a less violent display, just the neck crushed inbetween the wall and the pipe, letting the body sink to the ground.

"...arg... Damn.." Toby grunted, leaning against the wall. "I`m feeling sick.. like i`m drunk or something like that.."

Ceras looked to him, feeling his pulse with a pat on his shoulder. It didn`t look quite good.

"I think you should drink from their bodies. It might be not the best flavor but better than nothing."

He just gave her a quick look, then glaced at the bodies, and nodded to himself slowly, being in pain.

One quick bite eased that all out.

Ten minutes were all he needed. The cuts on his face were gone, and so were the broken bones, being recovered completely. He felt full, too. A rare feeling, although he felt like he could throw up about the taste of the blood.

It was like tasteing insect blood, nasty even for humans.

"Lets go. Sir Integra and Master might be back now." Toby blinked to himself. It was the first time he actually called Seras Master.

"Fine with me. I just waited for you here."

Up the stairs they went, and dureing that action, the lights went back on.

As they reached the lobby, a horrible scene laid in front of their eyes.

Twenty Hellsing soldiers, butchered in a brutal, quick manner.

For Toby and Ceras, it was obvious that the mutants did it, but as Integra saw Ceras, being covered in blood all over, something clicked inside her.

"Ceras Viktoria. Explain yourself. Why are you drentching with blood and why are my men DEAD?!"

The cyborg gulped deeply. "We don`t quite know that for ourselves, Sir.. the lights just went out, and then I heard shooting upstairs.. then we found mutants and all that happened.

"All that WHAT happened?!!"

"...fighting... he getting captured... we split up and then Rein told me to go look for him..."

Ceras felt this wasnt gonna be ending good.

"Seras." Integra commanded roughly.

"Yes, Integra?" The vampire appeared next to her.

"Take her into custody. That story is just too vagure. She stays there until further investigation has taken place."

Part 7 end.


	8. Eight: Freedom

„Why is she doing this? What has Ceras done, Master?!" Toby asked Seras again and again, in disbelief of all that.

„Stop yelling at me. The thing is, Ceras was there at the scene, covered in blood. The security cameras were all off, and as you said, you two split up so you cant even give her an alibi."

„Thats not the point!" Toby smacked his fist against the wall. „The point is, what prupose would that have? Her creators are dead, and she would have no other motive of doing that. And another thing, what about that Rein person? The soldiers were killed by blades, not by guns or fists!"

Seras sighed deeply, then grabbed his collar. „Listen up, i can`t change that. Its Integral Hellsing`s decision, and thats final. If you want to plead not guilty, then go talk to her, and don`t see me as your lawyer. I`m your teacher, nothing else."

It made Seras feel bad saying stuff like that, but she was seriously stressed AND pissed off by the fact that he was letting it all loose in front of her.

Toby sighed as well, nodding slowly. „Alright. I`m sorry. .... can i talk to her, at least? You can be present if its needed, i just need to hear her version."

Seras raised an eyebrow. „Why the hell do you care? She´s a superweapon, a clone. She´ll be gone in a few months, either way."

He balled his fist hard. Why was she talking like that? Being so careless wasn`t Seras`s normal way of talking.

„Just let me talk to her. I need to know."

„Fine. But stop going on my nerves."

The heavy steel door opened up in front of him, revealing a sterile, full steel room, much like a treasure vault with a bed, nothing else inside.

„There. I`ll be right outside. If you need anything, contact me telepathicly and i´ll come in. If you dont do that in twenty minutes, i`ll do it either way." Seras said, while Toby walked inside.

„Got it." Then, the steel door closed again to prevent her from escapeing.

Like she wanted to. Ceras sat in the corner of the room, her legs pulled up to her face, held there by her arms.

„.... Ceras?" Toby asked, makeing her twitch.

„......."

„Ceras, no matter what you might think now, i`m gonna get you out of here. But to do that, i need your help."

Her crimson eyes focused on him, questioning with disbelief.

„Tell me everything you know about what happened, okay? I`ll record it with a tape. And give me a blood sample." He took out a small recoder stick out, as well as a reaction glass made of sterile plastic.

„.....okay. But what do you need the blood for...?" She asked, with a whisper.

„If Integral doesn`t believe the tape, then i`ll let Seras swallow that blood.. then she`ll know exactly what you did, and everything else. I´d like to avoid that but that`s definately gonna get you out."

Ceras closed her eyes, tightly, slightly itching as he took the blood sample.

„I dont know if i want out again."

„....what?"

„I dont know if i want out again, and working for Hellsing again. You saw me fighting for them, just as desperate as i would`ve done it for Millenium, slashing thier enemies with brutality, i even resuced you from the mutants.. and i end up in a prison cell for all that."

Without letting her know, he had started the recoder already.

„Its not fair, is it? I mean, remember what we did? First we just talked there, sitting down, and then the lights went out. Nothing to be heard. We could´ve just sit down there, waiting for the juice to come back, but instead we fought our way through the enemy. You get to be free, even though you screwed up, and i`m stuck in prison. What for? For killing people with a knife? I dont know the first thing about knife fights. Sure, i can operate tanks and AA guns, but blades are a whole different territory." Ceras wiped her face off. While saying all that, she had started crying a bit.

„What happened after we split up?" Toby asked, handing her a tissue.

„... i went to the second floor. Through the stairways near the lobby. After killing about five of them more, my ammo was out, and i dropped the shotgun near the stairway... it should still lie there if you guys didn`t remove it. Then i killed a few more with fist fighting, breaking thier necks, ripping them apart and all that... there i got the blood from..Finally, i found another weapon locker, too late to be exact. I killed another mutant by crushing him, and then this girl named Rein showed up.

After that, i dropped my gun and went to look for you. The rest you know of." Ceras had calmed down a bit. Her tears weren`t flowing anymore, and she sat normally again, on the edge of the bed.

„Okay.. Ceras, whatever happens, keep that in mind. I`m not gonna give you up, no matter what she decides now."

She looked up to him.

„Why would you do that?"

He smiled slightly, standing up from the bed he sat on.

„Consider it as a payback for reading the manual for me."

Then, he called Seras, and left the cell again, leaveing behind a weakly smileing Ceras Viktoria.

Early in the dawn, Toby returned to Ceras again, leaveing the cell door open.

"Arise.. you`re free." He said, giving off a little smirk.

She blinked at him, slowly getting up from the bed. "What?"

"He means that you`re dropped from all the charges against the ninety-three deaths of our collegues. And you better thank him for that, not only for being clever enough to bring blood, but also for standing up like that. ...to be honest, Seras and me were already seeing you stuck in that cell for the rest of your life." Lord Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing entered the cell in a dramatic fashion as ususal.

"Uhm, yes, I can imagine.. " Ceras said, slightly saluteing.

Integra reached out a hand to her. "I know that it`s unlikely you want to work for me again, but I have to ask you to. After this, we really dont have much left to pick up a fight with. Ceras Viktoria, the Hellsing Organization needs you and your handywork for the next ammount of time. What do you say?"

She sighed, looking at the hand. "Well, Sir, I accept for a couple of reasons. But I have a request. Please, if I have done something wrong, proove it before putting me into a cell. This was really degradeing to me."

Serveral hours passed on, quiet hours of rest.

Toby was lieing in the coffin Seras had put into his room, a plain wooden box without much features exept a cross on the top of it, it looked kind of fancy.

Otherwise, it was just a box with satin inside.

He couldn´t find good rest in it, either. Every little noise stirred him up from the tiny breaks of sleeping, so he reacted in an instant as Ceras knocked on his door.

"...come in.." He muttered after sitting up again.

"I hope i´m not disturbing you at this hour. I just didn`t find any rest... some thoughts were bothering me." The cyborg kept her eyes closed.

"Thoughts, you say?"

"Yes... so I wanted to get rid of these thoughts. I wanted to thank you for what you did for me today. I`m sure that without you, i`d still be stuck in that cell."

Toby smiled. "Nothing worth mentioning, really. I just hated the way they judged without a second opinion."

"So I wanted to ask if there`s anything I can do for you in return...? I owe you my life, so i`d think you might have something in mind I could pay off that debt with."

Toby stood up completely, looking into her face. Ceras was almost the same size as him, just a tiny bit smaller. The red bangs on her raven black hair were on the height of his forehead.

"Yes, actually... I want you to be my partner."

Ceras opened her eyes to blink. "... partner?"

"Tomorrow evening, my official training ends and i´ll be a soldier in the Hellsing troops. And as a matter of safety, no soldier goes on missions alone. Since all the others are dead or demoraled, I have the choice between you and Seras to be my partner. I talked it over with Sir Hellsing.. although i´m sure she sees it as a method to keep you under investigation, she agreed to it."

A small blush appeared on Ceras`s cheeks. A partner... somehow, that thought felt good. Going onto missions with him. She already liked that time when they went killing those mutants..

"So, what do you say?" That sentence of him tore her out of her thoughts.

Ceras looked up to him, her crimson eyes looked into his. "Yes, I want to be your partner. "

Meanwhile, on the top floor, gunshots were heard, comeing from Integra`s pistol, landing in a certain black haired man in a coat....

Twelve hours later, dusk was covering the woods with a shadow, the sun was downing. Time for a new day to begin.

Toby just had his uniform on as Seras phrased into his room, looking cheerful and happy.

"Good evening, had a nice rest?" She asked him, smileing a bit.

"It was fine. I`d sleep better in a bed, but I suppose I can get used to it. ..... now who`d fed you a clown?" He raised an eyebrow at her, crossing his arms.

"Just being happy is all. Lets say I met someone I liked. Ready for training and excersize?"

"Bring it on. Whats next in the list?"

Seras countered this phrase by forming her left arm into a list, and looked on it while sratching her head. "Well, well, I think its hand to hand combat. But I can`t quite make it out, someone used black ink."

Toby was laughing out loud at her sillyness, stumbleing back a bit to land on his closed coffin.

"Ow.... damn, that thing was in the way."

Seras covered her mouth not to laugh herself, then reformed her arm and pulled him across out of the room, up to the lobby.

"Hey, I can walk for myself, you dont have to drag me." He grunted, trying to walk up the stairs as quickly as possible to keep up.

"The faster we`re done, the quicker you get the real fun. You want a real mission, dont you? And, here`s good news for you, Integra ordered to make that a double training excersize."

"....and whats that supposed to be?"

Seras gave him a grin he couldn`t quite be fond of.

"Well...?"

"It means we`ll have to train you while seeing in which shape Ceras is."

"...and why that goofy grin?"

"You`ll see. Now get to the gym and dress up, i`ll come to you soon."

Toby shrugged, seeing her disappear in front of him. Might as well make this supriseing, huh.

It took a short while to find the dresser rooms and change into a jogging overall, then finding the gym hall.. but as he did, he was stunned.

The so called gym hall was actually more of an indoor police course, slightly modified.

Trashed cars stood there, solid concrete buildings made for climbing, walls, ropes, muddy water and other obstacles obviously needed for climbing, as well as a side room with strange plastic puppets and a counter on the wall.

He looked around the gigantic room, searching for his soon to be partner.. was she comeing after him, too?

No, he did find her, leaned against the wall, stretching out, and it was another stunning look.

Ceras had her eyes closed, while wearing jogging trousers and a sleeveless tank top.

Her handgloves were missing, but her boots were still in place. She seemed very concentrated on stretching, pulling her arms above her head.

Toby didn`t want to stare, but without noticeing, he focused on her riseing breasts.

"Enjoying the view, homeboy?" She muttered a minute later, with a relaxing sigh as her arms lowered again.

That brought him back to the real world, and immidiantly he felt embarressed and guilty.

"He.. uhm... well, I... sorry, I didn´t....." He stuttered, looking into her face again.

Ceras just opened her eyes with a smirk. "Just because my eyes are closed, it doesnt mean I cant see you. Thermal heat and infrared light gives off your silluette clearly."

"..ugh, i`m sorry. That was stupid of me." He apologized, but Ceras just waved it off and laughed lightly.

"Keep it, its kind of nice to know that i`m not below Seras`s standards. She already warned me that people`ll look and stare at me everywhere I go. It doesnt bother me."

"Trust me, it gets really annoying after a while." It sounded from behind Toby, as the teacher appeared.

He spun around quickly, and blinked at Seras, wearing an overall like him, but in a blood red color like her uniform.

"So what`s there to do, Master?" He asked, crossing his arms as Ceras jumped to his side, stretching her legs and trying to balance on one leg only. Seras stuffed her laughter by looking at Toby only.

"See that course over there? First you go through that. It contains all sorts of obstacles Hellsing operatives face everyday. Cars being thrown into your way, walls that vampires jump over to escape, entire buildings to climb onto and other stuff that you may encounter one day, such as a mud pit with vines to jump it over. The course is big enough for two, so you can start at the same time.... now what the fuck is that?" Seras`s explaination stopped as Ceras lied on her back, pulling her legs behind her head like a was kind of yoga-ish and looked really, really weird.

"I`m stretching both my legs, my arms and my back at once. Its good excersize for concentration." Ceras said, slightly gasping inbetween.

A quiet slap was heard as Seras facepalmed.

A minute later, Ceras and Toby were on the start together, getting ready to go.

Seras stood near them, looking at a watch to stop the time. "Okay.. on the count of three. One... two... three."

Both of them started at once, jumping over the first brickwall easyly.

It was just knee-high so Ceras didn´t have problems with it.

After a short period of running, they had to climb up a ladder hanging from a tall building.

Toby was the first on the ladder, but Ceras got ontop of it first.

After that, they had to balance over two steel rods only, leading to the other side. Under them was a net, but it was at least five meters down.

Ceras`s implants told her the exact offset of her body, making it unfairly easy to cross it over, while Toby just closed his eyes and ran through it as fast as possible.

Once he tripped and almost fell, but since Ceras was already on the other side, she grabbed his collar and pulled him back up.

Another steel rod, but this time vertically. Slideing down it was required.

Due her inhuman weight, Ceras got down there first, although Toby had an aventage this time by simply jumping off the entire building, gaining a bit of track in advance.

Next was crawling, under a set of bricks that almost reached to the ground.

Toby got through it first, while the cyborg nearly got stuck inbetween. Needless to say why.

Two cars were lined up as the next obstacle, to be climbed or jumped over as fast as possible.

The vampire of the two tried jumping, but due unexperience, he didn´t quite make it and loosed time to climb the rest. That gave Ceras some time to reach him again.

Finally, the mud pit, and on the other end of the room, glass windows to block the exit, as a noticable line.

Both had trouble this time, Ceras had major issues with the balance, and her vampire friend... well, he just clutched the rope for some time before trying to swing across.

A minute passed, and they were still on the ropes. That didn`t look good.

Then, Toby had an idea. "...Ceras, gimme a hand."

"What?"

"Just do it."

She reached her hand out to him, and he grabbed it firmly.

"Okay... one, two three, here we go.." With greater stability and mass, they swung across at the same time, crashing through the windows in the same fraction of a second.

Landing on the ground in a bunch of non-lethal sugar glass shards, they grinned at each other, before joining into a high-five.

Hearing the glass break, Seras stops the time, and runs over to them.

"Three minutes, two and a half seconds for both of you. Not bad, I have to say. And not to mention that neither of you fell down an obstacle."

Toby got back on his feet, shrugging off nonexistant dust. "Its all about teamwork. Now what?"

"Combat training."

Seras stood near the combat area, the sideroom with the strange plastic puppets and the counter on the wall as Ceras and Toby got inside of them.

"Okay. There`s just one rule, and that one is, only hurt the puppets, not the teammates. The counters above your heads will show you the score of hits you gained at the end. Leathal hits will give you five points, non-leathal hits will give you one. You have five minutes, make it good. And, one last advice, these puppets recognize where you hit them. Its not about how hard you beat them, but how you beat them. Keep that in mind, lets go for it."

Toby breathed in and out deeply a couple of times.. his partner just rubbed her hands and got into a battle stace with her hands raised up.

"Okay... one, two, three.. go!"

Immidiantly after that signal, Ceras delivered a high kick to the head of the puppet, following a couple of beats to it. Her body spun around a bit, hitting him with the heel of her boot in another kick, then punching hard into the face.

Toby just focused on punching as a first, trying out some moves he saw from movies or saw in street fights. Eventually, he`d get the hang of it too, and kicked into the ballistic gel guts of the puppets.

Ceras stepped it up a notch, literally. Jumping over the foe by pushing down its shoulders, she gave it a hard kick into its back, then another into its neck. Serveral hard hits with her fists into the upper back followed, especially into the spine and the shoulder blades.

She smirked a bit, and jumped back to the front, kicking into the crotch... and yelped in pain.

"Youtch! Hey, what the hell? Why does it have a metal crotch, damnit?!" She yelled out, jumping on one leg for a second before kicking the head with the other.

"You have to put these sensors somewhere. Try not to hit it." Seras only commented, looking at the stopwatch. "One minute left.. hurry up you two."

Ceras looked to Toby, and after a second, he looked back.

Their looks were identical, and then, they grinned, before turning back to the foes.

In the same second, they did the same, devastateing blow to the lower chest, just below the ribcage, then turned to knock the elbow across the face of the foe.

"And... Stop."

Seras looked up to the counters, paying no attention to the panting and grinning youngsters, writeing it down on some sort of paper.

"So, Ceras scored 758 points.. Toby 694. Since 999 is the highest score you can gain... i`d say its pretty nice. Not the best i´ve seen but above averange."

Ceras looked up, giving off a little glare. "I dont wanna see the guy that can do so much damage in that time."

Her true self grinned, nodding. "You dont wanna. Its Sir Integra who did that."

Just on the que, the loudspeaker on the top of the hall came to life.

"All Hellsing operatives please report to the Office at once. General Briefing procedure."

Part 8 end.


	9. Nine: Return of the Monster

Toby and Ceras didn`t even get to dress up before they entered the office. They were told to come at once, and that meant no intervention from anything else.

The room was dimmly lit today, the doors creaked open, and a gentle smell came out of a candle lit on the desk.

Both, however, immidiantly felt uncomfortable as they entered.

„Ah, Ensign Viktoria and Reed, welcome. Where is your Master?" Integral asked Toby, standing near the desk. She looked almost a year younger, happier and her wrinkles weren`t as deep as usual.

„She told me she had to take care of things first.. i don`t know where she went to." He answered, stopping near the door.

Next to them, sitting on a small sofa near the entrace were a pair of red eyes litting up, followed by a glimming cigarette and a small cloud of smoke.

Two persons were sitting there, and the first one got up almost instantly after the cloud had left her mouth.

„When will we start, Integral?" It came from Rein, who was wearing her coat, a pair of sunglasses were covering her eyes, so the red pair was still sitting. She ran a hand through her long, dark hairs.

Ruby earrings were fitting the look the same as the biker style handgloves, inspired from Lara Croft, Rein`s childhood idol.

„As soon as possible.. please, Miss Viktoria, Mr Reed, take your seats." Integral choked lightly, then stood away from the table.

„So, like a conference, huh? Thats kind of cool." Toby felt cheerful suddenly, sitting into the other corner of the room where another one of these sofas were located.

Ceras joined him in silently, looking to Integral.

„With Seras here or not, it doesn`t matter, she knows what i`m about to tell you. First off, i would like to tell you some good news. Our superior weapon, and my longtime friend and mentor, Alucard, has returned from his journey."

A gasp went through all four of the people as Alucard appeared nearby Integral, useing thin black shadows to come up.

„...Greetings.. i`m honored to be the first topic at hand, heh.. so much fame, so much glamour.. Thank you, Integral.." After these words, Alucard laughed slowly and deeply, catching his breath after a minute.

„The fight against these mutants didn`t look good for us so far. In fact, they`re the next topic i would like to talk about. But with him on our side, we have a chance to survive. Hell, who am i kidding. With Alucard, we have a good chance to win, even more, we can send these creatures back to the flames of hell, where they came from. They and thier makers were doomed in the very second the monster returned to the earth, and the tides have changed once and for all. Alucard, would you like to have the word..?"

The tall, elegant and frightening man nodded, coughing politely before talking again.

„Haveing you gathered here, in this crowded room, the Hellsing organization.. it wakes memories. Nostalgia is comeing back to me, thirty years in the past, fifty years in the past, one hundred years in the past... Hellsing has come through these periods quite often. Human soldiers dieing like flies, they were only to serve as food for thier brutal enemies, tearing them apart in a goreful mess... muscles, eyeballs, blood and skin spread everywhere. Who wasn`t murdered, killed himself in fright. It was breathtakeingly pathetic.. yet exciteing. Everything seemed to come to an end in a second, yet Hellsing was reunited by a strong leader another time, and yet another time the forces of undead were defeated utterly... let me tell you, the third world war, the Millenium war... who won that war? Not me. Not i was the hero that destroyed the legions of the dead, but rather... the woman next to me. Integral Hellsing, with her will, her soul and her unbendable blood she had managed to even the odds without me, without her soldiers, only backed up by Seras. And with her on the side of Hellsing, this organization will never fall."

All four of them were stunned by the words of him, even Integral had opened her eye wider. Ultimate wisdom and immortality still belonged to him, centruies of experience in warfare and slaughter stood before the Hellsings. It was a moment that would belong into history books.

„Thank you, Alucard.... it is truely like that. Not the monsters, but the humans are the ones that wage wars, and humans are also the ones that end the war again. Now, i ask you to stand up alltogether... Alucard needs a proper introduction of our new teams, doesn´t he."

The nosferatu chuckled. „Oh, yes indeed. It has been too long... i must´ve missed out a lot."

The soldiers did as they were told to... all four of them stood up at the same time, forming a line from one side of the room to the other.

„From left to right we go.. First one is our most recent addition, Tobias Reed.. he was bitten by Seras just a few days ago, but showed talent both in hunting as well as in diplomatics and tactics."

Toby made a slight bow. „Seras has told me a lot about you, Mr Alucard. I look up to you and your wisdom."

Integral choked, then continued. „Next to him is another quite recent addition, even more recent than him.. Ceras Viktoria. She is a rather special case.. Millenium had cloned Seras as she was still an embryo, and watched over her since then. Ceras is an exact clone of her, but has advanced abilities, impressive skills in tactics and combat.. yet still has the attributes of a human."

Ceras bowed as well, deep and formal. „I´m honored, Mr Alucard. You´re so facinateing to see in person.. i... i don`t know what to say, really.. I think you get the point..."

Alucard chuckled amusedly. „Just like Police Girl... Doc really knew what he was doing."

„And in the other corner.. we have Rein, also an ex-Millenium member, but a quite highly ranked one. She lead the suborganization Phoenix, which was supposed to reunite and recreate Millenium after the war and lead them into total victory. She choosed to join us as we defeated her and her troops."

„It was either joining, or death. I owe Seras a debt, and i will repay it to her.. one day. As for you, Mr Alucard.. let me be honest, i`ve dreamed of meeting you all my life, Dracula, the impersonation of evil... in this very moment, my spirit is riseing." With these words, Rein did a formal bow to him.

Alucard smirked to her, then swifted his eyes over to the last of the four.

She was still in the shadows, not quite stepping out.

„Miss Julia.. would you, please?" Integral ordered, looking at Rein still.

The figure nodded, and stepped into the dim light...

A somewhat skinny brunette with shoulder long hair appeared. She looked rather attractive, had a cute face and curves, although the skin-tight leather catsuit and thick gloves, along with high boots gave off a different image. Her eyes were vampireic red, showing that she was a full vampire.

„That`s Julia.. she was a normal soldier for quite some time, until she was fatally injuried on one of the missions. But instead of chooseing to die, she accepted the offer of the blood, becomeing an independant Nosferatu of her own. I don`t know much about her abilities, but she´s a very capable long range fighter, and thus a perfect match for Rein, who is rather fighting in close combat."

Julia looked at Alucard, and raised her hand as a greeting. „Hi."

Alucard started to chuckle, then laughed, slowly errupting into a dark, hysterical laughter. While Ceras and Toby were shocked, Rein and Julia stood there motionless, just watching him.

„Alucard, that`s enough. Its impolite to laugh about someone." Integral snarled, shooting a glare at him.

He just continued for a moment, then slowly catched his breath again.

„Wonderful... ah, wonderful.. that was magnificent. Those eyes.. this disrespecting coldness.. that threatening, hostileing look all over her... wonderful..."

Julia smirked. „I´m not a single, don`t flirt with me."

Another loud, dark laughter followed, and Alucard grinned at her. „I like you, girl...."

„And... well, Seras seems to be absent.." Integral started, but then was interrupted by another bunch of shadows appearing in the room next to Alucard.

„Sorry i`m late... i had to fresh up my makeup for Master." Seras grinned, holding onto Alucard`s arm.

Her face looked exactly the same, so the makeup was a lie... her left arm was made of flesh just now, holding on Alucard`s back, as she leaned onto his shoulder.

Alucard looked down to her, whistleing in surpise.

„My, my.. My innocent little Police Girl actually learned something in thirty years.. Quite a lot, as i see." His mighty hand reached out for her, and Seras was about to step back, as she then felt his handglove stokeing her cheek. „I must say, i missed you in the spiritual realm, Seras. But now that i am back.. i can`t say that i`m sorry for it." He smirked wide.

„I missed you too, Master. Glad you`re back." She smiled, letting go of him.

„But didn´t i tell you to choose your fleglings wisely? I almost thought you turned yourself a boyfriend." He let go of her cheek to errupt in yet another roam of laughs, this time, everyone else was included in that, even Integral chuckled a bit.. only Seras blushed bright red and crossed her arms. „Stupid Count..."

"So, ladies and gentlemen, I think its about time to get to the second topic.. which is even more alerting than the first.". Integra pushed a button on her desk, activateing an overhead projector on the ceiling.

The map of England showed up on the wall, a red dot indicateing the position of the manor.

"This was were we first found a specimen of the Mutant race." Another dot popped up, near London.

"Dureing two days, we received messages from hunters outside our territory, from Shanksville, Leeds and Hamshire." Three dots close to the others appeared on the screen.

"Each time we found them, they were more aggressive and our troops were soon outnumbered. We have about one hundred and twenty casulties by now, not counting the townfolk and the troops killed inside this manor."

"Three cities in two days? How can they spread so fast?" Ceras asked, slightly shocked.

"We don`t exactly know yet. But first observations and a quick analysis of the cropses indicated that they might have been produced unnaturally.. by someone human." Integra`s face went dark, and so were Rein`s, Seras`s and Julias. Alucard`s face just showed a smirk, as ususal when he sensed a battle comeing in.

"Due the movements of these creatures, and their first attack point, we were able to pinpoint a location where they might come from... an office complex just in the middle of Downtown London. It belongs to the Styx Cooperation, which is officially researching human genomes. ... is it just me, or is there a similarity there?"

Rein coughed lightly. "Phoenix was also researching human genes. And so was Millenium."

Integra nodded. "Yes, exactly. And they all did that to perfect the human being into something else. They all failed somehow, but each one was closer to their first. So, logically, Styx must have started out where Millenium left off."

"But how does that make sense? We never took help from an English company. Besides, Styx was founded ten years ago." Rein said, disbelieveing that statement.

"Thats what we have to find out, so thats why we have to go in. A direct attack would do nothing, let alone give them time to burn everything we search for. So, we must make this a secret operation."

Seras smirked. "Sounds like a job for the cyborg."

Toby finally said something as well, in her defense. "All big buildings have metal detectors. If Ceras would go in, she`d be discovered faster than a lit christmas tree."

The girl to his left nodded. "My implants are made of titanium but they still appear on detectors."

Integra coughed. "Mr Reed however is still too unexperienced to go in himself. Seras, what about you..?"

"Nope, Sir. Just look at me. They´ll have tight security and find out who I am." Seras pointed to her eyes, flashing them up red.

The last Hellsing groaned deeply. "And Alucard would just make a mess out of it. Rein, Julia.. can I trust you that you two wont do the same?"

The two girls looked at each other, grinned, and looked back to Integra to nod at the same time.

"We wont let you down, Sir." Julia said, cracking her fists.

"Good. Then, Seras, use the time to finish training your flegling. We need him active as soon as possible. Also check about Miss Viktorias aiming and gunfight skills. Time is of the essence. And you two, go prepare yourself. Search, and if you get the evidence, destroy. Failure is not an option."

Soon after that, Toby, Ceras and Seras were standing outside, at the shooting range for the last lesson he needed to learn. Heavy Weapons.

Seras just came back from the locker room, bringing out a large machine gun and threw it at Toby as soon as he looked at her.

"Woah!" He shouted, just barely catching it in suprise. It was light as a feather to him, but still unhandy and hard to get a grip on.

"That, my dead friend, is the soldier`s favorite.. the MG3 Machinegun. Basically a new model of the infameous MG42 used dureing the second world war, it has all the aventages of the former model with some newer ones."

"Great.." He muttered, finally gripping it by the handle and the bipod.

"Its belt fed, so you will need an ammo box to feed it. At the shooting range, there`s an automatic feeder at the shooting cabin, but in a real gunfight, you´ll need to know how to load it and where to place the ammo safely. Lets step up and see, shall we?."

Giving her a quick nod, he ran up to the small steel cabin that was used for protecting the shooter against riocheting bullets, and placed the gun onto its bipod there.

"Good. Now, to your left there`s an ammo belt hanging out.. thats the automatic feed. Pull it out and open your gun with the switch in front of the barrel." Seras said, handing Ceras an P14 Pistol to practice.

"...switch..?" He muttered, but then his thumb got across a notch, and the cover of the feeding system opened. "Ah, that one."

"Just place the belt where the barrel is there, and close the cover again." Seras said to him, watching over his partner meanwhile.

"Done. What now?"

"Do that about five times... just to get used to it."

Toby groaned, doing that, as the first series of shots rang out next to him.

Ceras aimed for the target, fireing a round each second she did, then speeding up a bit, testing out how fast she could go.

Seras was speechless for a short time, as she noticed each one of the bullets flew into one and the same hole in the target... not one of them was off.

"Oh... okay.. now, pull the bolt on the right to load it." She said as soon as Toby was done.

"Got it.." He replied, loading the gun with a metallic noise.

Seras pushed a button on a little remote, letting a target come up in front of him. It was a large wooden plate depictureing a car full of bad guys holding guns. Just the typical clishee.

"Thats your target. Go for it, and remember, this gun fires 1600 rounds per minute, so don´t call me when you drown in shell cases."

He just did that. At first he was surprised how extremely fast that really was, but soon he got the hang of it, fireing just short bursts at each one of the baddies, and into the tires of the car.

"Go on, just spend it all. Shoot for the engine and the fuel tank too. Maybe they`re hideing on the back seat. Just trash the whole car with your fatass gun." Seras cheered him on, letting him blast out his frustrations for now.

A minute later, only the hinges at the bottom of the target were left, then Seras called him to stop.

"So, kiddie. Thought that was fun? Well, check out the next part." With these words, she took the huge gun away, carring it like easy to get the next one.

Meanwhile, Toby looked over to Ceras, being slightly amazed how she fired two pistols at once now, shooting the head and the heart at the same time. Only two holes were in the wood, and she kept fireing until the clips were empty.

"Just how do you do that?" He asked while new clips clicked in place.

"Simple. My central processor reconizes that my hand is off target, and adjusts it back to the target. Its like having super-effective sensors attached to a computer." She explained, twirling both guns around her fingers like some Dirty Harry ripoff.

He smiled, and turned around as Seras brought out the next big gun.

"Here`s our crowdmaster. SPAS 14 semiautomatic shotgun. Catch." Once again, she just threw it at him, but this time he was more prepared and catched it easier.

"Feels good in the hand." He commented, looking all over it.

"Just like the MG3, its a newer model of an old gun, the SPAS 12. Like its ancestor, it can fire both semiautomatic and with pump action, like the oldschool riot guns. For that you flick a little switch right before the pump handle."

Toby nodded, trying that. " Cool."

"It has a compensator in front of an enlarged barrel, better ergonomics and a match-grade sight. Five shots, twelve gauge caliber. Now dont let that number fool you, thats about five thousand bullets right there." Seras handed him a pack of shotgun shells, plastic blue ones for training.

Just a few seconds later, Toby stood at the range, loading up the gun. "Ready."

"Okay. Just like with the rifle, i´m gonna launch a large number of targets for you to shoot down. Try to load dureing the breaks, and watch the recoil. Three, two, one... go." She pushed another button, then watched him go.

He was obviously having fun, shreddering the wooden targets to bits with a pumpgun. He had some trouble reloading fast enough, but eventually learned to load dureing shooting, keeping up the pace until the sequence was over.

"Okay, thats it. Just one more, and the best has yet to come." Seras took the shotgun again, going back to the locker, comeing back supriseingly fast this time. And now, Toby`s jaw hung open a bit.

"Know and love this. That, my friend, is the Panzerfaust 3 disposable rocket launcher. We rarely use this giant piece of equipment, but when it comes to, we have to once a while. Whenever a tank or something big blocks our path, thats the one to call. Its located under the backseat of every CAR, so we have it when we need it. Now, take it, and lets blow something up." Fortunely for him, she didnt throw this weapon at him, but rather handed it all nice and gently to him.

"There`s an electronic sight attached to the left. Try to get used to it, take your time for now. I`ll let a target appear as soon as you`re ready."

Ceras was done meanwhile, comeing back to Seras to look at what was happening.

Toby had some trouble at first, figureing out which one of the buttons did what, until he finally found the arming key and pushed it down.

"Alright, ready.. I think." He said, hanging his head a bit.

Seras giggled and pushed a button to let the remote controlled car appear on the scene. It was driving slowly, to simulate a tank.

"Fire when ready. Its your target."

She didn´t have to repeat that, immidiantly after the car got in range, a rocket hissed out of the six foot long tube and crashed into the car, bumping off it. It was, of course, a training rocket without a warhead, but with one, it would´ve been destroyed entirely.

As Toby came out, letting out a breath of air, Seras took the gun back and shook his hand. "Congrats. That`s all you need to know. Just keep it in mind and train it every once a while. You`re now officially in combat duty of Hellsing, blah blah blah, may you die in honor." She grinned, then patted his shoulder.

As she went off to store the gun in the locker, Toby sighed deeply. "What have I gotten myself into."

Ceras snickered while patting his other shoulder. "I stopped asking myself that long ago."

Part 9 end.


	10. Ten: Sky High

Rein was still gearing up for the mission as Integral explained last details, standing next to her.

„Your primary target is the main archive located in the basement. Its all computerized so we added some data sticks to your inventory. As for the secureity... we don´t know much about that, but from what is clear is that you´ll have to bypass serveral obstacles such as cameras and others. But none of them should be too much of a problem for you." Integral sticked a little device into her coat.

„One of those again?" Rein groaned, not amused. She hated it to be tapped.

„Surely. We`ll record extra evidence along the way.. and dont take that the wrong way, but i´m feeling safer this way. Don`t screw this up, Rein, we need that data. ... oh, and one more thing, don`t kill anybody until you`re sure of it that they`re our enemies. Only knock them out or hypnotize them or whatever non-lethal you can think of."

Rein sighed deeply. „Got it.. Julia is waiting. Anything else..?"

„Yes. Remove the camera out of my underwear drawer before you go, or you`re fired."

The vampire grinned wide. „Aw, okay."

Like a shadow Julia and Rein went to the large skyscraper building that Styx was located in.. in fact, the whole building belonged to them. One mistake and thier whole private army would be after them.

It gave the whole thing a certain thrill.

„I`ll go up to the roof. Lets communicate telepathicly.. thats less alerting." Julia said, quickly pulling her crossbow from her back holster.

It was a light carbon frame, reinforced with aluminium on the inside.

The whole bow was made out of titanium, but polished and glittering brightly.. a wireframe construction of that bow saved weight.

The strings were classic steel wires, and a plastic grip in the middle of the main string allowed quicker reload.

On the shoulder stock, five bolts were attached... and last but not least, under the bow there was a small Remington 870 shotgun set into the frame, in case she got into close combat.

„Got it... I`ll call you as soon as i need assistance." Rein replied, walking towards the entrace. Her katanas were safely hidden under the back of her coat, not to be seen unless someone looked at her back.

Five minutes later, it was all set up, Rein was near the front entrace, slowly walking towards it, and Julia lied on the top of a building nearby.

'All done.. lets get to it.' Rein thought to her partner, and got a prositive reply as answer.

„Good evening, Miss.. do you have an invitation?" The guard at the entrace asked.

„Yes, indeed.. i`ve got an appointment with Mr Bruce Widdecker." She said calmly, looking into his eyes.

She changed her eyecolor to blue, disguiseing herself as a human by useing contacts, but the eye contact still made him nervous.

„A-alright, welcome at Styx Corp.." He said, allowing her to get in.

„Thank you." Rein nodded to him, walking further to the entrace. 'Now.'

Totally silent and not to be seen easyly, a crossbow bolt cut through the thick power cable of the metal detector, disableing it. The vampiress just continued to go through it. 'Nice work. I`ll see you inside.'

Inside the building, things were calm and quiet... not many people worked overnight, and even the reception desk was empty. The warmly colored lights at the cieling of the lobby didn´t thow a shadow as Rein walked by... fortunely, nobody looked at her and people kept minding thier own buissness.

She stepped into an elevator soon after, makeing sure nobody else got inside by pushing the door closeture button, then she placed a little device onto the control panel of the lift.

Immidiantly, the programm got hacked and the elevator went to the basement without needing a password.

Rein smirked, watching the level numbers fly by... this was almost too easy.

Meanwhile, Julia had climbed onto the top of the Styx building.. it was very windy at the top, her hair flew into her face as she scratched her knife across the glass window where the boss of the company ususally was.

The wind noises took away the screetching sounds, but it wasn`t necessary.. in one hundred meters of height, nobody cared about noises like that. At least, not outside.

After that, she pulled the glass out, letting it fall to the ground before slipping inside herself. That was a mistake, as the glass made an extreme crash after collideing with the asphalt far below. But she didn`t know.. and either way, she was gonna make it quick.

Her crossbow was safely holstered at her back, and she looked around inside the office... it was dark, nobody worked here today, but her eyes saw things clear as day.

There, the computer. Her target.

Rein didn´t notice all that, as she phrased through serveral walls to avoid cameras along the way.

A lonely guard which came across received a hard hit into his neck, knocking him out instantly, as she continued her way into the computer archive.

It didn´t take long to reach it, either.. she just phrased into it as well, not feeling like breaking the door open.

The camera inside however would be a problem to her, it was faceing the computer directly.. after some time thinking about it, she decided to cut the power cables through which hang from the camera, and make it quick.

Of course the guard which looked at the secureity monitors noticed it quickly, the camera wasn`t sending anything anymore, and he pushed the alarm in instinct. It could be a malfunction, but if it wasn´t, they were in deep trouble.

Rein hurried up with the downloads of data, looking over the important parts to judge whatever they were hostile or not. It turned out to be that they bought one of the mutants from a third party company for research.. and it breed eventually.

'Julia, I found the data we need. Styx isn´t behind this. They`re part of the puzzle but they`re not the ones we are looking for.'

It took a moment for her to answer, and so Rein unplugged the sticks and left by phraseing through the wall again.

'..I gotcha. I had the feeling it won´t be so easy. Alright, meet me in the top floor office, i`m almost done but help is certainly appriciated.' replied Julia.

'Got it. I`ll be there in a moment.'

That wasn`t a lie, as Rein stood in the office in the next blink of Julias eyes.

'There you are. Just need to get the buisness reports from this year, maybe we`ll see who sold them these mutants.' They were still using telepathy, so people couldn`t hear they were talking if someone was closeby.

Ten minutes passed, serveral folders and closets were looked through, then finally Julia found the papers they were searching.

'There, I got em.. lets get out of here.'

'....trouble`s ahead.' thought Rein.

'What?'

'They`re right outside the..'

She didn´t get to finish as the door was kicked in with a loud boom. Five guards with guns drawn entered the office, pointing their weapons at the girls.

"Freeze! Drop the paperwork and stay where you are!" Shouted one of them, but Julia looked over to Rein anyway.

"Can we kill them?"

Rein shook her head. "Non lethal ammo. Lets make this quick, i`m getting hungry."

In a blurred moment, Julia drew out her crossbow and fired a shell of plastic bullets out of the shotgun mounted underneath.

The guard was blown backwards, writheing in pain, but obviously not lethaly wounded.

Gunshots rang out as the nosferatu noticed the stupidy of that sudden act.

"The window?" She asked Rein, gripping the weapon tightly.

"Yeah. I`m tired of them."

The bullets didn´t miss them, they flew right through the two. Julia had given the papers to Rein, and was now holstering her crossbow as the guards stopped fireing in disbelief.

Rein grinned at them, then showed her tongue as both vampires jumped backwards, through the closed window of the twentieth story building.

They fell about a minute of time, gun bullets flew across them before they finally hit the ground, landing in a roll as Rein ended up on top of Julia.

The one on the bottom held onto her, smirking. "That was fun."

Rein grinned back, nodding. "Yeah. But its time to leave... although, not before this."

She took Julia´s head by the side and kissed her deeply, making the young nosferatu moan a bit.

Two hours earlier, in the main office of the Hellsing mansion...

"The point is, Seras, we can`t counterattack them. How should you lead an attack with just six people? Even if they are much tougher than a regular human, thats insane." Integra inhaled deeply on her cigar. She was still addicted to them, and it showed off consequences for long now.

"But if we don`t attack, they`re gonna conquer great britain sooner or later. And just imagine what would happen then, they could take over other countries too. We need to stop this breed before its too big to be destroyed." Seras aguremented, gestureing with her shadow hand.

"True... damnit. We`re pushed against the wall again, we have not enough men, and too many enemies. And don`t you tell me we should ask the Vatican for help. Maqubes visit yesterday was enough for my nerves." Integra groaned, thinking about the new Iscariot leader. He seemed incompetent, but she knew it was a farce. Maxwell pulled the same stunt fourty years ago.

"Although Heinkel would`ve been a good addition. But I would just end up fighting with her everyday." Seras smirked darkly, likeing that thought in a twisted way.

"No Seras. Just no. In the end they would betray us again, and then we`re in deeper trouble than before. We have to learn from mistakes." Integra put out the cigar in the ashtray, looking into her crimson colored eyes. "Who else do we have left?"

"Good question. The SAS, MI6 and most of the D11 are useless against Vampires, especially against tough ones like these. You`d need serious firepower to take them down, rather than a bunch of police officers." The word 'Firepower' got Seras an idea. "Wait.. what about our American friends?"

Integra groaned yet again, lightening a second cigar. "God, don`t get me started with them. Surely, the Paranormal Encounter Division Squad is capable, and, even I hate to admit it, better than we are.. but they make a mess out of things. On top of that, they´re not too trustworthy to begin with."

Seras shrugged. "But they have equipment we can`t even dream of. I´m sure a few rockets or shotgun shells can take down a mutant easyly."

The Hellsing leader glared at her deeply. In fact, she saw the aventages that would bring along, but, to tell the truth, after almost a century of getting along fine, England and the USA didn`t like each other too much anymore. The Financeial Depression, the Iraq war and serveral other things tempted England to taunt the US, and needless to say they really didn`t like being stabbed in the back.

However, this mutant problem was going to be an international risk, so they might be interested in helping out either way.

"I´ll think about it, Seras. But don`t expect any wonders."

The conversation was ended at that point, as the office door was knocked.

"Enter." Integra said, putting out the cigar as a sign of respect.

Toby came in, giving his superiors an salute. "You wanted to see me, Sir?"

Integra blinked, nodding slowly. "Yes... yes indeed, Ensign. I almost forgot. Sit down, please."

The young vampire nodded, sitting down in front of the desk next to Seras.

"Well, Seras told me your training was complete.. Congratulations. We just have to take care of a few formalities before you can be an official soldier of Hellsing." Integra pulled out a few papers from under her desk, as well as a pen to sign them.

"I understand. Even death needs paperwork to be official."

The old woman chuckled, filling out the first part of the paper, then handing it to him. "True. Read it through carefully, then sign it on the bottom line."

As he did so, she looked to Seras, then back to him again, coughing lightly. "So, did Seras inform you about your required partnership?"

Toby nodded, handing the paper back to her after signing it. "Yes she did. With your permission, i`d like to choose a partner myself."

She stored the paper under a bunch of others, obviously trying to push it away until later. "Well, I think in the current situation, you dont have much of a choice, but... why not. Go ahead."

"I`d like to have Ensign Viktoria as my partner."

Integra looked at Seras, and the nosferatu looked back. Was he serious? But, since the recent events, this choice seemed likely. He was getting along supriseingly fine.

"Are you sure? Miss Viktoria probably isn´t the wisest choice."

Toby nodded, feeling sure of his decision. "I´m aware of the risks. She needs a partner for herself as well, and I get along fine with her. Also, I suppose you would feel safer if someone watches over what she does."

Interga folded her hands, looking at Seras.

'I don't think he knows what he`s doing.' Was her telepathic answer.

'True, although this might be a chance to see if she´s really honest with us. I have my doubts about her.' Thought Integra.

'You`re thinking about letting him do this, don't you? Thats crazy and you know it.'

'What am I supposed to do otherwise, Seras? Letting him go alone? Its either her or you, and I can see that you would rather be with your master again.'

This ended the psychic part of the discussion, leaveing Seras blushing lightly.

Toby didn`t get a single thing, although he knew that they were talking about him. He just thought that they knew each other well enough to read their intentions from gestures.

"Alright, Ensign. She`ll be your partner. But don`t thank me yet, because its at your risk. Once you choosed a partner you can`t just switch to someone else." Integra said to him, unfolding her hands.

"Thank you either way, Sir. I was aware of that when I made my choice." Toby replied, bowing lightly.

"Now, while Rein and Julia are investigateing Styx, you will have your free time for now. Enjoy it, because I believe it`ll be over with that soon. You are dismissed."

Toby nodded, then stood up and left quietly.

Seras watched him go, and then looked to Integra, disbelieveing. "Are you seriously...!"

"Enough, Seras. If he wants her so badly, why not. He`ll see what he gains from it. Now where were we...?"

Toby spend some time trying to find Ceras inside the mansion, without a conclusion. She wasn`t in her room, and nowhere to be found in the corridors.

Eventually, a thought struck him, and he went up to the rooftop.. blinking as he saw her being there.

She had changed clothes, now wearing the uniform again, but with pants for a change. The sleeves of her top were also rolled down, most likely because of the cold night. The cyborg sat on the brim of the roof, looking up to the sky, obviously thinking deeply.

He thought about leaveing at first, letting her have this moment in private, but then again, he needed to tell her that his request was granted.

Slowly and silently, he approched behind her, then looked up as well.

It was a full moon, a cloudless night illuminated with light.

Now he didn´t know how to start out, but fate helped out there.

"A nice view, isn`t it.. its amazeing to see it for once." She muttered, slightly dreamy.

"..Yes.. its really amazeing. It seems so far away, yet closeby." He answered, decideing to sit down as well.

"I didn`t see many nights in Brazil. Some of them were pretty, but none of them were this clear and refreshing. The air is so clear, and its so quiet around here." She was almost whispering, trying to keep up the silence that was only distrubed by a few crickets.

"I can`t imagine how the nights in South America must´ve looked like. Having a jungle instead of these buildings must`ve had its thrill, too." He took a deep breath, feeling clean, cool air rush through his lungs.

"Yeah.. but you could never see the moon this clearly. The rainforest always made some clouds to cover it, even on a full moon. And all these stars... its new to me to see them, too."

Toby looked down for a moment, then turned to her. "How long did you watch the moon in Brazil? It sounds like it was a long time."

Ceras nodded, remembering what she kept secret from Seras. "Yes.. nine months exactly. Nine moonphases, over two hundred different looks on the moon..."

He sighed silently, then looked up suddenly. "Seras told me you would be active only ten months."

She twitched, closeing her eyes. ".....yes. I lied. Ten months are my maximum time. In fact, I don`t know how much I have left, but its less than a month."

Right from that moment on, he didn`t know what to say. He just looked into the stars, thinking about what that must feel like.

"Reporting back, Integra.. the mission went more or less smooth. But there were witnesses, so you might need to do some censorship later on." Rein said, as she bursted into the office without even bothering to knock. Julia followed closely behind, silent as ever.

"Thats fine, Raminta. As long as you two didn`t kill anybody it should be easy to conceal. Now, what did you find out?" Integra sat behind her desk, like aways, having her hands folded. The threatening atmosphere in the room indicated the presence of Alucard, as well.

"First off, they`re not the one`s we´re looking for. They bought these mutants from somewhere, to do some research on them and test them under other circumstaces. Most likely they failed to control them and now they escaped. There`s a whole terrabyte full of data about these creatures on these sticks, as well as buisness reports, news and other shit that seemed to be important. Second, Julia brought along a list of the transactions done this year, maybe that`ll help find the one who sold the mutants. One way or another, we can forget about them." Rein put both the papers and the data sticks on the table, then stepped back and cracked her neck. "Anything else you need to know?"

Integra glared at the pieces before her, groaning. "Damnit. I thought we would have them. Oh well. I´ll assign Mr Stephenson to search through these files. You did a good job, you two. Much better than I expected."

"Its an honor." Julia simply said, crossing her arms. She didn`t seem to mean it, but it was most likely meant sarcastic anyway.

Integra didn`t mind. These were hard times, and Julia was a dependable soldier.

"We`re faceing a serious problem now. A group of creatures invade our homeland, being nearly invincible, and our weapons don`t do much damage against them. We neither have enough soldiers nor enough time to wage war against them, and while speaking of time, our time runs short because they might take over other countries. ......I think it might really be the wisest step to call PEDS for help." Integra sighed deeply before saying this sentence quietly. It was a moment of defeat for her.

"Sir, I would suggest calling them as soon as we got a serious lead on them, or when we can`t handle them anymore. Right now we got things under control.. more or less." Rein said, takeing her contacts out to bring her crimson red eyecolor back to shade.

"You`re right of course.. but just the thought of having to call them makes me wonder what this world came to. "

Part 10 end


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